THE SCHMIEDEL FAMILY

THE END OF AMY'S BLOGGING DAYS! :)

2009-07-19T15:53:00.000-07:00

Okay, so lately I have been putting pictures on my blog and on facebook and it's rediculous I think... especially since I have a hard time sitting still to do any of it. So Im now putting my pictures on facebook if anyone is interested in seeing what we are up too! Facebook is alot more fun anyway! :) Hope to see you all on facebook! :)

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!!!!

2009-07-05T20:54:00.001-07:00

We had a great 4th of July with our great friends!!!!! We went swimming all day and then a barbecue..... They didn't have fireworks in Yucaipa this year so we didn't get to do that...BUMMER! :( Roland had to go to work at 9pm and the girls and I didn't want to go alone. Other than that, it was a great day! We love you Jackson and Thompson family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here are some fun pictures of our day!

The two cutest girls ever!!!!!!!!

I LOVE THIS PICTURE OF TAYLER! SHE IS SOOOOOO CUTE!!!!!

Oh I love this picture! It was so fun being together for a holiday! It's not always the case with Rolands job! OH I LOVE MY FAMILY!!!!!

Sammy had so much fun playing with my friend Emily! Emily, you are so fun!!!!

OUR FUN DAY IN PALM SPRINGS!

2009-07-04T12:21:00.000-07:00

Roland had my birthday off and planned a really fun family day! We took the girls to Palm Springs to this tram that brings you 10,000 feet up to miles and miles of beautiful nature! The girls love hiking and now that they are bigger, we really can take them to cool places. We hiked for hours and they loved every minute of it. We were so impressed because the more rocks and climbing we did the happier they were! They are soooo cool!!!! Roland has a bunch of things for backpacking so he brought some of his backpacking food and stove and we made lunch of there. I was a little nervous the food would be horrible, but I was quite impressed... it was good! And the kids thought that was so cool! After we went hiking he took us shopping and out to dinner for my birthday! It was a fabulous day and as usual, my husband spoils me! I don't know how I got so lucky?! The girls gave me the best present of all though. They were happy and no whining ALL DAY LONG! It truly was the perfect day! Here are a few pictures of our hiking adventure!!!! Turning 37 was alot of fun! :)

The girls just loved the tram ride! It was so hot in palm springs! The farther up we went, the cooler it got! It was in the 70's up there! We didn't want to come down! :)

It was SOOOOOOOOO beautiful up there!!!!

Here is a picture of me with my very best friend!!! I LOVE YOU ROLAND!

I am the luckist Mommy and woman ever!!!!!! Are they awesome or what?! :)

Roland put a big lift on his jeep and for his birthday got a cool GPS for hiking and off roading! Here he is playing with it now! :)

Oh how I love my little buddies!!!!!!! Thankyou Roland, Sammy and Tayler for a great day!!!

I HAVE TTHE BEST FRIENDS EVER!!!!!

2009-07-04T12:05:00.000-07:00

Okay, lets just say Im not a fan of birthdays.... Im 37 now and can't believe it! Time goes by way to fast. This birthday was special though because of some pretty amazing friends! My girlfriend Karolin planned a surprised birthday party for me and boy did she pull it off! I was shocked! I thought we were going to the movies but when I got to her house everyone was there! I was so touched and excited! We had a great time and I will remember it always! Thankyou to all my friends who were there and even to the ones who couldn't make it! I thank my Heavenly Father everyday for each of my friends... they make life so fun! I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!

OUR FUN DAY WITH FRIENDS!

2009-07-04T11:30:00.000-07:00

When summer comes what do the kids like to do???? SWIM SWIM SWIM! We had a fun day swimming with our great friends.... Emily and I got to girl talk all afternoon and the kids we happy swimming the whole time! What would we do without our friends! We love you guys!

Love ya Emily!!!!!!

Is little Kara cute or what?????

A GREAT WEEK AT OMA AND OPA'S HOUSE!

2009-07-04T07:47:00.000-07:00

Oma and Opa took Samantha and Tayler, along with their cousins (Rebecca and McKenna), up to the mountains to spend the week with them and what a great week they had! Here are some of the things they did!

Oma and Opa had a tea party with the girls and boy did they make it fun! They got all dressed up and everything. They even had tea and cookies. You guys are awesome! The girls couldn't stop talking about it! Was this cute or what??????

They spent alot of time on the lake. Oma and Opa let the girls all take turns driving the boat and they sure loved that. They had a picnic on the boat too and our girls love doing anything that food is involved! HA! They did some fishing and played at the lake too! The were all tired by night time I am sure! Good thing for Oma and Opa! HA!

Oma let the girls do some baking and cooking while they were there. Our girls love to help in the kitchen.... Sammy was in Heaven! :)

Oma exercises every morning and so did all the girls! Oma said they got so excited doing this exercise video.... I am sure it was a riot!!!!!

And of course they had to have popcorn movie nights too! These are just a few of the fun things they did! They had such a great time up in the mountians and how blessed are they to have such fun grandparents! Thankyou Oma and Opa for giving them such a fun week. The girls loved being with Oma and Opa and loved having a week with some of their cousins! And what did we do all week you ask? HA! Well unfortunately Roland had training all week, So I spent the days being lazy all week long. Ok, you know me! I got a lot done, BUT I did have some lazy time too!!! It was so quiet and AWESOME! Everynight we either went out with friends or had date nights of our own. It was a perfect week! I don't know who was more excited??? The girls or me! HA! Of course, after five days, I couldn't wait to see them. I missed them sooooo much!

OUR FRIENDS COMING FOR A VISIT!

2009-06-16T13:10:00.000-07:00

When we moved here four years ago, we left some great friends behind... but miles will not keep us from getting together and sharing our lives. Marisol and her family were like my extended family out there and we spent all our times together... even holidays sometimes so we miss them very much. Samantha and Madison have been friends since they were babies and even though they don't see each other often, when they get together it's like best buddies all over again. Tayler and Mary didn't know each other when we moved but have gotten closer and closer. Believe it or not Marisol is CRAZIER and LOUDER than me, if you can believe it and it's an adventure every time we get together. I miss ya girl and we love you guys tons! We spent the day playing, Shopping, going out to lunch and going to Jump Zone. It was a great day. I forgot my camera of course, so here are some pictures from my phone! It's better than nothing! :)

They all wanted to play dress up. This picture so perfectly expresses the two sets of kids... Madison and Mary are so girly, and mine like to be funny and crazy! It was hilarious! Oh and they put on the cutest shows for us. Seriously, I was kicking myself that I didn't have th video camera on! It was a riot!!!!
They get sad everytime they have to go home and leave each other. It is soooooo sweet!!!!!

Here is a picture of us with our great friends! It was hard getting the kids to sit still for this picture, but it was fun for us to have a picture with all of us.

FUN TIMES WITH OUR FAMILY!!!!!

2009-06-16T12:41:00.000-07:00

Some of my family came to visit for Samantha's big day and here are some pictures of some things we did while they were here! I have the best brothers and sister EVER and every chance I get to see them, and their awesome families, is a blessing I cherish very much! I love you guys TONS!!!!

We all went to the movies while they were here to see "UP". The girls loved it and especially loved the 3D glasses they got to have.... it was so much fun! Seriously, how cute are they? :)
Here are the girls with their cousin, Molly. WE LOVE LITTLE MOLLY! She is the cutest, sweeting cuddliest little girl in the world and we just can't get enough of her! SERIOUSLY! I could have had more if I had babies like this! HA! JK! I wouldn't change my girls for ANYTHING.... but they are crazy and Molly is calm.... HA! HA!

Matt and Camille just kicking it at our house! It was a very relaxing weekend!

Here is my brother Kevin Dancing with Tayler. Tayler couldn't get enough of my brothers... I am sure they were exhausted when they left. The chick NEVER STOPS! HA!

We went to Laguna Beach one day. It was so cold and overcast in Yucaipa so the girls were in jeans and jackets.... when we got there it was BEAUTIFUL!!!! I was so bummed! But, man they didn't let their jeans get in the way..... they were soaked and had a blast! It was so much fun!

I have the coolest brothers ever! Heres a picture with my brothers Kevin and Matt. Jeff, you are cool too.... I promise! HA!

Matt, Camille and little Molly! TOO CUTE!

Here is Kevin and Rikki being crazy! HA! They are still so young and so much energy! JEALOUS!!!!!!!! :) We had a wonderful visit with them and we love you guys soooo much!!!!!

SAMANTHA'S BAPTISM DAY!

2009-06-10T12:04:00.000-07:00

OH WHAT A WONDERFUL DAY!!!!!!!! Samantha had been waiting so long to be baptized! She has been preparing for a long time like I never saw an 8 year old do! She took this so seriously and is such an amazing girl! We are so lucky to be here parents! So the big day came and she was in Heaven! Alot of our family was able to be there which was wonderful, along with our great friends! Here are some pictures of this special day!!!!!

Here are pictures of Samantha with some of her great friends that came to share this special day with her.....

Here are our family members that were able to come and spend this time with us too. It was such a great family day!

This is a picture of Roland and I with two of my awesome brothers (Matt and Kevin) and their beautiful wives (Camille and Rikki)!

We had a big party in our back yard with our family to celebrate the special day! Samantha loves this restaurant, "Rosies" So we got a six foot long burrito and all the fixins.... it was awesome! We all just relaxed and had fun together eating and playing.....

My brother Kevin with his wife Rikki

My brother Matt with his wife Camille

Oma and Opa

Rolands brother Alan and his wife Tammy

Rolands sister Sheila with her husband Dave and the cousins

Sammy got some wonderful spiritual gifts that will help her on her Journey through life.... here are just a couple....

Here is a few pictures of the girls with all their cousins that came to share the day with us!

We had a wonderful day celebrating Samantha and the wonderful commitment she made on this day! WE LOVE YOU SAMANTHA SOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!

OUR GREAT VISIT WITH MY BROTHER JEFF AND HIS AWESOME FAMILY!

2009-06-10T10:33:00.001-07:00

My brother Jeff came to California with his family for a visit to the beach with friends and then spent the rest of the time with us. What a great time we had! He has the best family and we love them so much! The kids had a BLAST together. For four days they just played and played. No drama, they loved each other.... and we love them. We were so sad when they left!

The twins had a blast playing dress up with Tayler. They are all the same age. Of course Chase had to dress up manly! HA! He loved being a pirate! SO CUTE!

The kids had fun doing a show for us, they were quite the band!

Ok, I LOVE THIS PICTURE! COLE YOU ARE SO CUTE!!!!!!

The kids had a BLAST on the trampoline with Uncle Jeff. He got the crap kicked out of him though! HA! He was so sore that night! YOU ARE GETTING OLD LITTLE BROTHER... HA! What does that say for me? :(

Sammy loved playing with little Cole and he seemed to like the attention. I so wish they lived closer.... WE LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!

A FEW AMAZING PICTURES OF OUR LITTLE 8 YEAR OLD! THANK YOU JULIANA!!

2009-05-23T19:37:00.000-07:00

If you want to get some amazing pictures taken of your kids or family.... DO I KNOW THE GIRL! A great friend of mine does photography for a living and we had her take pictures of Samantha in her beautiful baptism dress that her amazing Oma made for her! Thank you Oma! I knew Juliana would do a good job but I CRIED when she sent me a few just to see... I haven't even seen them all yet... these are just a couple and I LOVE THEM! Thank you so much Juliana and if anyone is interested, she would do a great job for you too!!!!!! She is awesome!!!!! Sammy wore her beautiful dress that her Oma made along with a beautiful locket that Oma and Opa bought for her.... She is also wearing my Grandmothers pearl earings.... She looked like an angel. The best part is she is just as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. No parents could ask for a more amazing Daughter and I know that her Heavenly Father is just as proud of her as we are! WE LOVE YOU SAMMY!

Juliana also took a few pictures of our precious Tayler.... she was feeling left out! HA! Does she look beautiful or what! Man we have been blessed with two amazing little girls!!!!!!!!!!

A FUN DAY WITH OUR GREAT FRIENDS!!!!!

2009-05-23T19:20:00.001-07:00

The girls have been so excited for Summer to come so they can go swimming. We opened our pool today and invited their best friends over to go swimming for the day! They had a great first day of summertime fun!

Kaitlin and Emily brought Sammy a present for her birthday. It was a Hanah Montana doll. OH MAN WAS SHE EXCITED!!!!!! Thankyou girls!!!!!! Can you guess what Sammy's favorite thing is right now????? :)

Roland got these for the girls and they had fun shooting each other... they took it quite seriously. It was so funny!!!!!

Is Ashely adorable or what! She is mini-Tayler.... good luck STAR! HA!

This was at the end of the day... they were kicking it on our tramoline..... it was so funny! Even little Ashley was hanging out! Do they look wiped or what? HA!HA! They played hard today!!!!! We love our friends, the White's!!!

LITTLE TAYLER GRADUATING FROM PRESCHOOL

2009-05-23T19:02:00.000-07:00

Tayler was so excited to get in her cap and gown and be the center of our attention!!! She had so much fun this year in preschool and is now sooooo excited to go to kindergarten and go to school everyday like her big sister! She is ready too.... she is sooooo smart, like her big sister!

Here is Tayler with her two buddies Elissa and Andrea!

After the graduation we took the girls (with our friends Karolin and Greg) to Frugos for a treat! Do they look impatient and a little anxious! HA! HA!

It was alot of fun to spend this one on one time with our little Tayler! She is so special to us!

TAYLER WANTS TO BE A BIG GIRL JUST LIKE HER SISTER!

2009-05-23T18:45:00.001-07:00

When Tayler saw Samantha's new bike, she decided she wanted to be a big girl too and asked her Daddy to take her training wheels off her bike. Roland took Tayler to a parking lot and withing 10 minutes.... she was riding her bike all by herself.... I got there and I asked her if she fell at all. She said, "Mommy, I fell four times and didn't even cry!" She was so proud of herself.... and so were we! SERIOUSLY!!!! DO YOU GET ANY CUTER????

Tayler was so excited to be just like her big sister!!!!!!!!! What cute girls!!!!

OUR LITTLE SAMANTHA TURNED "8"!

2009-05-23T18:30:00.000-07:00

Samantha Turned eight this week and I can't believe it! She is growing into an amazing little girl who we just adore.... She is so excited to be eight because she will be getting baptizd in a few weeks. She has been talking about it for months and has even been doing things to prepare for it... she is taking it very seriously! WE LOVE YOU SAMMY! We had a nice time celebrating her birthday with Oma and Opa! HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAMMY!

Sammy wanted Strawberry shortcake for her birthday so that is what she got! She had fun making her own too! She is eight ya know?! HA!

Tradition in our family is that Oma makes the granddaughters their Baptism dresses. Oma took Samantha out and Samantha picked out a pattern she wanted.... and then Oma made magic! Sammy was so excited when she saw the dress, it was so sweet! She loved the detail and was so grateful. Oma and Opa also got her a beautiful locket that Samantha will cherish always.... Among other things! Pictures of her in her dress are coming soon! :)

Sammy got a bunch of fun things for her birthday, but her favorite was her Hanah Montana bike. OH MAN!!!!! She is loving life with this new gift! She is getting so big! :(

Daddy and the girls spent the night riding bikes together and the girls were so excited! They love spending time with their Daddy! HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAMMY!!!!!

OUR LITTLE HERO!!!!!!!

2009-04-29T09:32:00.000-07:00

Anyone who knows my relationship with Samantha knows although she can drive me crazy at times, she is my hero! She is the most amazing person. Not only is she SO beautiful and SO smart but she has the sweetest spirit of any child I know. She is also determined to be a good person all the time and make us proud of her. Well Samantha had to go to the dentist yesterday to get two baby teeth pulled. Her big teeth are coming in faster than her little teeth are coming out and it's quite the train wreck! :) Well when she heard she had to go do this she was so scared. We talked about it for awhile and she decided instead of being scared she would ask Heavenly Father to help her and then have faith that it will be okay. After that she never worried again. This was a few weeks ago. Yesterday as she was getting ready to leave she told me that she was going to be the bravest kid the dentist ever saw and they will all be so proud of her. And that she was! Roland took her though because I couldn't stand to watch her suffer. I knew it wouldn't be easy.... Im a baby when it comes to my kids and pain! Luckily Roland is a great daddy and he really helped her, and me, through it! HA! The dentist said they couldn't believe how well she did and it took awhile to get them out too. LOOK AT THOSE ROOTS! She cried some but was very obedient and let the densist work in her mouth the whole time, even with all the pain. She cried but quiet tears and was so brave. I SERIOUSLY LOOK UP TO A SEVEN YEAR OLD! She puts her mind to something and never looks back.... She is so amazing! Her teacher at school is always telling me what a great example she is to all the kids in her class... always teaching them to be brave, to not let bullies bother them (Too feel sorry for them because they are sad kids), helps them with their work, and the list goes on and on. SHE IS ONE AMAZING GIRL! Samantha, we are sooooo proud of you and love you SOOOOO MUCH! Here are some pictures of her with her whole mouth numb.... it was quite funny watching her talk and smile! She was so happy when it was all over!!!!!!
Samantha's new nickname is "My little toothless wonder!" She thinks it's funny!

Can you imagine how hard he had to pull to get these out?! I'm seriously sick everytime I think about it! MY BABY!!!

Of course she got to pick any treat she wanted after this torture! She picked a slushy! You gotta love this young age! The littlest things make them happy! WE LOVE YOU SAMMY!!!!!

EASTER DAY

2009-04-14T16:15:00.000-07:00

We had a great Easter Sunday. First the kids woke up to all the goodies from the easter bunny and boy were they happy!

Here is a picture of the girls in their easter dresses..... they looked sooooo beautiful!!!!!
Then our friends, the Woods, came over for Easter dinner. We all had a great dinner together. Roland had to go to work and Greg had to rest from a seriously long sunday... so all the girls hung out for a easter egg hunt! We also watched a great kids Movie about the Savior and his ressurection.... We have so much to be thankful for..... He has done so much for us!!!!!

And of course we had to end the evening with more food! HA! HA! It was a wonderful Easter day!!!!!

THE GIRLs MAKING THEIR EASTER PROJECTS

2009-04-14T16:02:00.001-07:00

Our girls LOVE to do crafts. Each year we color easter eggs. It takes about 1/2 hour and then they are done and don't know what to do next. Well, last year I was at JoAnne's and I saw all these Easter projects. I bought one and when Easter came I told the girls we were going to do something different this year. Instead of coloring eggs we are going to make egg bunnies.... THEY LOVED IT! They made all these egg bunnies and then played with them for DAYS!!!!!! So this year I went back to the store and found a different easter craft and once again they LOVED IT! They had so much fun and it kept them busy for hours! They even had enough to do again the next day! Im telling you, it turned out to be a great idea!!!!! And ALOT less mess! HA!

LAST DAY OF SPRING BREAK. SPENDING IT WITH OUR FRIENDS THE JACKSONS!

2009-04-10T16:38:00.000-07:00

Today was the last day of spring break and I am so sad! We have had a fun two weeks with the girls off of school. My friend, Emily, and I decided we wanted to do something fun and different with them for the last day. My girls love to eat out.... I don't know where they get it???? HA! Emily had the idea to take them to the Old Spagetti Factory. They do tours of the restaurant and explains how and when the restaurant started and it's history. It was very interesting and the kids really liked it. Then we had lunch there and it was OH SO GOOD! I LOVE THAT PLACE!!!! Then we took them to another small museum in the area. It was a really fun day! What would we do without our friends!!!!!! :)

I don't think Laura and Sammy stopped laughing the whole time.... they were a riot! Except at the table when we were eating! HA!

I cannot believe how much our girls like museums.... especially Samantha. She can't get enough. She wants to read everything and gets mad at me if I rush her. She's so deep. Roland and I can't figure out where she gets it???? HA! Emily is her Girl Scout leader and told her that everytime she learns something new she gets a new wrinkle in her brain..... she told me today to wait, she was getting a new wrinkle! HA! Little does she know, she isn't going to like those when she gets older! HA! HA!

Seriously the best lunch ever!!!!!! And we got complimented on how good all our kids were. That made Emily and I very happy! :) They were so good!

Oh how we love our cute girls!!!!!!!

We had a great day together and love our great friends!!!!

A FUN DAY AT OMA'S HOUSE WITH COUSINS!

2009-04-10T15:47:00.000-07:00

Whenever the kids are out of school, Rolands sister (Sheila) and I try to get the cousins together to play. Of course Roland had to work as usual :( so the girls and I went up to Oma's house to get together with everyone for the day! We all had alot of fun just hanging out. The kids wanted to do a easter egg hunt together so that we did. They had so much fun and were so cute! Sheila and Rolands Mom are trying to domesticate me..... I am going to learn to sew! SHOCKER I know........ HA! Now lets see how I do! :) Here are some pictures of our fun day!

Sammy loves to help. She decided she wanted to help Opa in the backyard so she got a shovel and went to work..... it was sooooo cute!

Here is Oma, Brianna and Sheila looking oh so cool! :)

All the girls love their Oma so of course we had to take a group picture with her. It was a great day and we look forward to doing it again soon!

OUR TRIP TO THE MUSEUM WITH FRIENDS!

2009-04-03T16:30:00.000-07:00

Today was a fun day. My friends Emily, Katie and I took our kids to the San Bernardino County Museum. Samantha is huge into history and learning but I wasn't sure about Tayler. They loved it! And they loved going with their friends! It's so nice having friends with kids so we can do these things together..... so the kids can have their friends and we can too! :) Here are some fun pictures of our day!

OUR FUN AFTERNOON AT JUMPZONE

2009-04-01T16:58:00.001-07:00

My friend Star and I decided to take the girls to Jumpzone for the afternoon. They had so much fun playing together..... as they always do. It was nice for Star and I because they were having so much fun while we got to relax and girl talk! It was a fun afternoon!

Tayler is getting very interested in reading. I couldn't believe she was at Jumpzone but wanted to read even still! It was too cute!

This place is really cool and close to home. It will be a fun place to go in the summer when it's too hot to run around outside!

OUR FAMILY DAY TO CALICO GHOST TOWN

2009-04-01T15:34:00.000-07:00

Sammy and Tayler are on spring break and Roland had the day off so we decided to get away for the day. Roland went to Calico when he was a kid and loved it so we decided to take the girls. THEY LOVED IT! It was the coolest town. It was wild to think people really lived like this. We are sooooo spoiled! This was a mining community so we got to see all kinds of mines and other things. It was a great day!

Sammy and Tayler love to watch Little House on the Prairie. They were so excited to get on the trailer and pretend to ride it just the they did in the shows and in the old days.....There was so many old machines and tools they used back then that the kids thought were cool.

They had an old jail in town and I locked up my crazy family! HA!

This is what the old firtrucks use to look like. Man it would have been soooo much work to put out a fire with these machines...... gotta love modern technology!

Roland told the girls before we went that they were going to get to hunt for gold. This was the highlight for them, it was soooooo funny! They each got to bring home a little baggie with the "gold" they found. They both kept saying how rich they are! HA! HA! Too cute!

This is an overview of the Ghost Town..... It was fun imagining what it was like when there were actually people living here..........

We took a train ride that brought us all around the town and told us stories of days back then of when they use to work the mines and all the millions of dollars in gold they found here. The kids, especially Samantha, were so facinated... so were we. They worked soooo hard back then! Talk about manual labor!!!!!!

We went on a tour into the mines.... it was facinating!

After we spent the day in the Ghost Town Roland wanted to go off roading into the mountains with his jeep. He was in heaven.........

This was me scared to death a few times he was going to crash the jeep! I knew we would be safe but..... it is a brand new jeep ya know! HA! He went through some CRAZY ROCKS ETC....

The girls had a blast going off roading with Daddy. We stopped a few times and went sight seeing through th mines (we didn't go in, it would be dangerous but we did get to look inside and do some hiking and climbing!). Sammy was facinated with all the rocks and minerals we found! She is so facinated with minerals and rocks. She taught us while we were out there. She got to bring some "minerals" home and she can't wait to bring them to school and show her teacher! SO CUTE!

Sammy was so daring that day. She climbed some really big hills all by herself and was so excited! We had such a great day!!!!!

FAMILY DAY AT TAYLER'S PRESCHOOL

2009-03-28T19:17:00.000-07:00

Taylers preschool had a fun family day activity so Daddy and I went with her to school to play with her and watch her having fun with her great friends! She was so excited that we came.... especially her Daddy. With Rolands schedule, he can't always be with us at these things so when he walked into her school she got so excited. It was soooo sweet! She couldn't wait to show us all the fun things they got to do and what she loved to do most at preschool. It was alot of fun spending this time with our little Tayler! We cannot believe in a few months she will be going to kindergarten. She is so ready but MAN the time goes by fast!

Here is a picture of Tayler with her two great friends, Andrea and Elissa

This is Tayler waiting in line to walk in her little fasion show. The kids got to wear their favorite outfits and then do a fashion show. She looked soooo cute in her little "Alice in Wonderland" dress (she insisted this was what she wanted to wear and couldn't wait to wear it to school).... although she played so hard the first hour and she was pretty sweaty and tired by the time she did the show..... it was funny! She was still so cute and was so excited to be wearing her dress. She is such a little ham!
When it was finally her turn, she went from confident to embarrassed.... it was hilarious!
Here are some fun things they planned for the kids. She had alot of fun!!!!

Here is Tayler again with her favorite person.... her Daddy! And its so sweet to see how much he adores her too. They have such a sweet relationship!

We had a great time with Tayler at preschool and so did she! :)

I HAD TO TAKE SOME MORE PICTURES OF TAYLER IN HER ALICE DRESS! SHE IS SOOOOO BEAUTIFUL ISN'T SHE? :)

2009-03-28T19:10:00.000-07:00

SOME MISC PICTURES OF OUR SWEET GIRLS!

2009-03-20T13:32:00.000-07:00

Life with our girls is crazy at times, but always fun! I am always taking pictures of cute or funny things they do so I decided to do a post of miscelaneous pictures..... We soooo love our sweet girls!

Here is a picture of Tayler and her best friend.... DADDY! She just adores her Daddy and loves to play with him. It's so funny because we all adore him and we all fight for his attention... that's right me too! HA! That's what happens when you have a Daddy and Husband as awesome as Roland!!!! Tayler was sitting like this with her Daddy and I just had to get a picture.... it was priceless!!!!!

One day I had to go to the grocery store. I usually try to go while they are at school but I had to go on this day. We were walking in the store and for a minute I just looked at them and they were just too cute. Especially Sammy with her Hanna Montana purse. This picture doesn't do them justice. They were walking around like they were so cool and Sammy was trying to act just like me.... It was SOOOOOO FUNNY! Here is a picture of the girls at the doctors. They go every year just to get a well checkup. This was the first time they were asked to get into robes before the checkup. OH MAN THEY THOUGHT THAT WAS THE COOLEST THING! They couldn't stop laughing at themselves in these getups. They were giggling the whole time the doctor was in there. She got such a kick out of them.... they were so happy and sooooo funny! HA!

This was such a sweet moment. All day long on this day Tayler missed her big sister. She kept asking me when she was going to get home. She really adores Samantha. Well Sammy came home that night. We had dinner, baths, homework etc... finally we were all done and the girls were watching a cartoon. Tayler kept trying to get Samantha to play with her. Sammy kept saying, "Tayler I'm watching this show right now." I walked over to Sammy and said, "Sammy, you have no idea how much she missed you today. She kept asking me all day if it was time for you to come home yet." I expected Sammy to complain that she wanted to watch TV.... but this is what she did.......She turned off the TV, turned to me and said, "Well Mom, why didn't you tell me that in the first place!" She spent the rest of the night playing with Tayler. She even read her all the books Tayler wanted to read. It was a priceless moment for me. It meant so much to see how much they truly love each other! These moments make all the crazy ones worth it! OH WE HAVE BEEN SO BLESSED WITH THESE TWO GIRLS!!!!!!!

This was hilarious. I can't believe I have to do this. Our girls had the curliest hair as babies, but now it's so straight. My friend told me she would put these rollers in her girls hair and it always looked so cute. I bought some and thought for sure they would hate them.... well I was wrong. THEY LOVED IT! They laughed so hard at each other with these things in their hair and even went to bed in them. I couldn't believe it! They were soooo cute in these rollers! Unfortunately we had just gotten their hair cut so they didn't stay in. In a few months we will try again but boy was it funny how cool they thought they were in these rollers! HA! HA!

Tayler playing at her preschool

2009-03-20T13:29:00.001-07:00

Tayler loves her preschool. When she started here they told the kids they would be getting a new playground. Well Tayler never forgot and every month she asked when it was coming. Well it finally did and she is in Heaven. She wanted me to take some pictures of her playing on it. SERIOUSLY, you don't get any cuter than this! Tayler brings so much joy (and craziness) to our lives and we just love her so much! Oh and don't you love her pants? It's her pajama bottoms. She had to wear them because it was St. Patricks Day! TOO FUNNY!

Our girls playing with the friends Madison and Mary Tayler

2009-03-20T13:23:00.000-07:00

Madison and Samantha have been friends from the start. I met my great friend Marisol back in San Gabriel where we use to live. Sammy was one and Madison was just a baby. Once Madison started playing they were inseparable! They have been best buddies ever since. We don't get to see them very often, but when we do they play like they never where apart. Friends are priceless and we are so grateful to have them in our lives. Here are the girls getting all decked out... boy did they think they looked cool! What girls!!!!!!!!!! :)

Tayler, Mary, Madison and Samantha. Serious, they was HILARIOUS!!!! WHAT BLING BLING!!!!!!

We wanted to go out to lunch and they all insisted on keeping their outfits on... oh the looks we got. It was hilarious!!!!! We had such a fun day with our great friends!!!!!!

OUR FUN DAY AT THE SAN DIEGO ZOO

2009-03-08T18:51:00.000-07:00

We had a great day at the zoo with our great friends, Star, Kaitlin, Emily and Ashely. Life gets so busy so it was nice to get away and do something fun with the kids. The girls are such great friends too so it's nice doing these things together with them. The girls loved all the animals. Sammy's favorite were the huge turtles and Tayler loved.... well she couldn't narrow it down so she named them all off. It was a great day...

The petting zoo here was great. The animals were very calm and the girls had fun petting them and playing with them. Some petting zoo's scare them because the animals were so agressive.
Sammy was pretending to be a tiger! Boy she looks scary doesn't she??? HA! HA!
Look at our little cuties! SO BEAUTIFUL!!!!! They had fun climbing these trees.

This is Samantha with her best buddy, Kaitlin The girls were so cute with their little heads sticking out of these. TOO CUTE! They thought they were so funny! :)

This is my friend Star and her little cutie, Ashley.... we do everything together. Our girls are best friends and so are we! Love ya girl!!!!!

Tayler saw this "animal", and just had to get a picture with him. It was too cute!

Oh how I love my sweet Tayler. She gives the BEST HUGS EVER!!!!!! She is my little buddy!
This was the girls at the end of the day. It was a long day and alot of walking..... They were a riot. You would think we ran a marathon. This was Taylers first time without a stoller on a long walking day like this. They were tired but had so much fun!

GOING TO A SNOW WHITE PLAY WITH FRIENDS

2009-03-02T08:43:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine takes her girls to different plays. I have been wanting to try and see how our girls would like them. Well in our home town they were doing a "Snow White" play and I thought that would be something they would like. So my two friends, Star and Karolin, and I took our girls to the play together. The girls LOVED IT! It wasn't broadway or anything but it was so cute! The actors in the play did such a great job and the kids were just so into it. For two days they didn't stop talking about it. And they had so much fun doing it with their closest friends. It was also fun for me to bring the girls with two of my great friends. It was alot of fun. We will definitely do this again. The girls are already talking about the next play we should go see. I LOVE GIRLS! :) Especially OUR GIRLS!!!! :)

SAMANTHA'S FIELDTRIP TO THE LIVING DESERT ZOO

2009-02-26T15:41:00.000-08:00

Samantha had a really fun fieldtrip to the zoo in Palm Springs. It was a beautiful day and so much fun! The girls love going to the zoo and it was really fun for Samantha to go with some of her friends! We got to pal around with her teacher too.... we've become good friends so it was alot of fun for me too! :) I love going on these trips with her and look forward to doing it with Tayler, hopefully starting next year. Thank you Daddy for working so hard so I can do these things with our girls!!!!!!!

Here is Samantha with her two closest friends at school! They have been friends since kindergarden.

They insisted I take a picture of them on this lizard. They were so funny all day long!

Sammy liked the petting zoo. She is always a little nervous but the animals in this petting zoo were very calm so she really had fun in there.

My little ham! She sat on this rock, just like this, and told me I just had to take a picture of her like this! HA! Is she beautiful or what?

It was a great day.... I love spending the day with my girls! I get alot of days with just Tayler and so I really cherish the days I get with Samantha! She is growing into an amazing girl! Her teacher told me so many great things about what a great example she is to all her friends. And she is doing so well in school! I couldn't be prouder...... I love you Samantha!!!!

OUR FUN FAMILY DAY AT JOHNNYS INCREDIBLE PIZZA

2009-02-24T12:58:00.001-08:00

I was waiting to pick Sammy up from school one day and a Mom friend told me about this great place for kids. She said its amazing.... Well of course her daughter told Sammy all about it and for weeks she has been wanting to go. So we decided our next day off we would check out Johnny's Incredible Pizza. It's like a Chucky Cheese but WAY BETTER! We got there and ate first. It's a pizza buffet and the kids had a blast with that. There are five different rooms you can sit in, with a different theme in each. The girls found the cartoon room and were in Heaven! We ate until we were sick of course and then off to the games we went. Here are some pictures of our fun day. A little pricey but DEFINITELY worth the money!

Seriously! Watching them eat was hysterical! Usually my kids eat so fast. I barely get the food in front of them and it's gone. They ate so slow because they couldn't stop watching all the cartoons in the room! It was a riot! The food was good too. Not the best we ever had or anything but alot to choose from.... it was really good!

They had this mini bowling alley and the girls loved it! They got really good at it at the end too. They were just too cute!!!!!
Everytime we go to a place with games, this is there favorite one to play! They play it over and over.... and OVER!!! :)
Tayler loved this mini roller coaster.... Sammy was sick on it. It's VERY small but I was surprised at how fast it went..... The whole time Tayler was screaming and laughing. Sammy looked like she was going to throw up! It was sad and so funny at the same time! :)

Roland and I love playing this game. Of course we have to play it everytime too.... and unfortunately he won! THIS TIME! :) The kids love it too!

Oh these bumper cars were AWESOME! It was a small area but the place was empty so the girls had it all to themselves.... they went on these a couple of times. I wasn't sure if Tayler would get how to stear it but she caught on fast and they were a riot! They crashed into each other so many times, we all couldn't stop laughing. This was our favorite part!

It was an awesome day together. Oh how I love my girls and my sweet husband! Life doesn't get any better than this. Any day with your family is priceless!!!!! I recommend this place to anyone! SO FUN!

FUN NIGHT WITH FRIENDS!

2009-02-24T12:39:00.000-08:00

My girls have some great friends! One night we had a play date and all the girls had a blast playing together and eating pizza together. It was a very casual night but they had alot off fun. Friends make life so fun!

I love this age because so little makes them happy! I am scared for when they get older and the simple things aren't exciting anymore! :) These girls are just too cute!

These are Sammy's best friends Kaitlin and Shealyn

And these are Tayler's best friends, Emily and Andrea!

FUN PARTY AT JUMP ZONE!

2009-02-13T10:27:00.000-08:00

Last week we went to a birthday party for some friends of the girls.... We didn't even know this place exsisted in Redlands and now it's going to be a new favorite place this summer when it's too hot to play outside. The girls were in heaven with all the slides and fun things to do. It was alot of fun being with friends too!

They must have went down all these slides 100 times!

Tayler loved reading all the books, or at least she thinks she was ready! :) She is just soooo cute! This had wheels on it. The would push each other really fast and then let go. They would slam into things and they thought that was hilarious! I thought their reaction was the hilarious part! HA!

Roland and I LOVE air hockey so wherever we go we play with the kids and of course we have to play each other and we are quite competitive! When the girls saw this table they about died! They were so cute! Just like their parents! :)

This is my good friend Teresa. It was her girls party! We don't get to see alot of each other with our busy lives so it was fun to have a few hours to catch up! You gotta love friends! :)

This chair was hilarious! They really were my little princesses!

Happy Birthday Bethany and Emma!!!!!!

PHOTO SHOOT!!!!!

2009-02-07T16:52:00.000-08:00

My friend Star and I both wanted to get pictures taken of our girls. We decided to do it together and get one taken of all five of them. We do everything together and the girls are the best of friends! It's fun to watch them grow up into beautiful girls! We are so blessed!!!!

I didn't love all the pictures but what I do love is them!!!! :)

We truly have the most beautiful girls in the world! And its not because I am their mother that I think that either! HA! :)

SAMANTHA GETTING A "TERRIFIC KIDS" AWARD AT SCHOOL

2009-02-04T10:28:00.000-08:00

First of all our family did not need Samantha to get this award for us to know what a terrific kid she is..... but we were sure excited when we found out she was getting this award. She is an amazing child who prides herself in making good choices and doing well in school. When she acts out at school or talks to much one day she will tell me and say she wants to be better and does. She is always trying to be a great person and this shows it. Samantha we are so proud of you and love you so much! We are so lucky to have you in our family! We truly have not only one but two terrific kids!

Here is a picture of Samantha with her teacher and principal of her school. Two amazing people. And also her good friend from her class!

SAMMY AND TAYLER IN THE NEW CURLERS!

2009-02-04T10:06:00.001-08:00

Okay, so I love my girly girls. I love to dress them up in all these cute clothes and go shopping etc.... BUT I am not that fun when it comes to their hair. I am always to busy to take the time to find new ways to make it cute. Well, I went outside the box and decided to get curlers for their hair and see how it goes. The funny thing is my girls hair WAS SO CURLY when they were little, just like their mommy. I can't believe how straight their hair has gotten. Anyway, I wasn't sure how this was going to go over with the girls. They would have to sleep in them all night and I thought they would whine about that....... well I was wrong. THEY LOVED THEM! It was a riot! When I put them in their hair they just ran around the house screaming and laughing... all for curlers! Yes, my kids are crazy! HA! HA! They were SO CUTE IN THEM though. I just had to take a picture of them. Of course they didn't work very well because I just had their hair cute pretty short. They wouldn't stay in their hair and at night they all fell out. I bought them nets to try and hold them on and we will see how it goes, otherwise I will have to wait until their hair grows out. So there aren't any after pictures because it didn't work! But I still had to post these because they were just too funny! Even in curlers our girls are ADORABLE!!!! :) They are just so much fun!

HAVING A FUN DAY WITH FRIENDS!

2009-01-10T17:50:00.000-08:00

Today the girls and I spent the day with our friends, The Parkers...... We don't get to see them alot because life is just to crazy and they live in Chino. We have been friends with them since Roland and I first got married and became the best of friends, and have been ever since. We enjoyed the days before children and then had both our children at the same time. The kids have been best buddies since day one. Every time we get together they have so much fun! We played games and had fun eating chocolate fondue and just being together. It was also Beau's fifth birthday so we celebrated that with him as well. We love you guys!!!!!!!

Tayler really warmed up to Steve this time and loved playing with him. It was cute....she has always been scared of him! HA! This was the highlight of their whole day! HA! Mommy's too! :)

Sammy and Jack play so well together. Sammy told me the other day she thought Jack was cute! OH HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Are they a riot or what? HA! HA!

SAMMY HAVING FUN WITH HER BEST FRIEND KAITLIN!

2008-12-29T14:02:00.000-08:00

Star and I swapped kids for the day so the girls could play with their friends..... Well Sammy and Kaitlin had so much fun together, I had to take some pictures......... They just love playing together every second they can. It's so cute!

Kaitlin got a new skateboard for Christmas so they decided to try it out. They were so cute on it but because it was so hard, it didn't last long, it was so funny! If they aren't fabulous doing something, they loose interest. Heaven forbid they practice! HA! :)

And of course they had to go for a ride on their new go cart! They were so cute and excited!
Kaitlin had a blast on it and wanted to ride all day! She was so brave! What a great day with friends! :)

THE GIRLS GETTING THEIR HAIR CUT

2008-12-27T12:58:00.000-08:00

The girls love when I tell them they are going to get a hair cut. They love being pampered... like their Mommy! :) My friend Star wanted to get Kaitlin and Emily's hair done too se we decided to go together and they had so much fun!

The girls favorite part is getting their hair washed. The first time Sammy ever had this done she said to me, "Mommy, I love getting a shower for my head." It was so cute. Tayler is funny when she goes too because she has this look on her face like, yes I'm a princess.... she is going to be high maintenance, I can tell. HA!

Here are the girls after their new hair cuts! They all look so cute! I love my girls with the short hair.... they look so cute and innocent.... even if they are not so innocent! HA!HA!

Here are the two prettiest girls in the whole world.... and I am lucky enough to be their Mommy! :)

CHRISTMAS DAY!

2008-12-26T14:37:00.000-08:00

Okay, so Roland had to work Christmas Day. We had such a great couple of days that I was ok with it..... that morning when I woke up I was feeling sad because he wasn't home with us. He called me to say hi and I got really sad.... he said to me that he has another Christmas present for me. I got REALLY sad and told him I didn't want another Christmas present, I wanted him to come home. Well while we were talking about it I heard the door open. I thought it was one of the girls so I left my bedroom to go check the doors. As I'm walking down the hall talking to Roland on the phone, he was walking towards me with a huge smile on his face and a hazelnut hot chocolate from Starbucks. I got so excited I started screaming! The girls got scared thinking something was wrong so you can imagine how excited I was. His seargent gave him the day off and he wanted to surprise me. I LOVE THIS MAN! He did it in such a fun way, I was on cloud nine all day long!!!!!! I texted his sgt and told him this was the best Christmas gift we got all season. We got Roland! It was an awesome day! All the food was cooked so we were able to just hang out and play with the kids all day. We watched movies by the fire, played games and just relaxed. I didn't leave Rolands side. I knew I loved this man, but in that moment I realized just how much! He was funny. He said I got so excited you would think he just got back from Iraq or something. HA! HA! That afternoon we went to our friends, The Jacksons, for a buffet and to share the day. We had alot of fun just relaxing and eating. I can't believe how much food we have eatin in the last three days! YIKES! :) I love my life and am so grateful for my family and all of our blessings. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.... we love you all!

There are so few times that both Roland and I are just relaxing and hanging out. It was an awesome day!

The kids were so excited to have Daddy home too. They did crafts together and played all day!

It was raining so we couldn't go play with the go cart but they still had fun playing with it in the garage! HA! HA!

The girls listened to their MP3 players almost non stop and are still going strong with it today! They are getting so big! It's crazy!

Tayler is going to be an artist just like her sister! :)

Here we are playing this new game the Wood family gave to us, "Guess What I Am". It is so much fun! We were cracking up!!!!!We had a buffet at their house and pigged out once again. I was soooo sick when I got home. I have no portion control! :) The kids had so much fun hanging out and playing together, and so did the adults! :)

The kids played hard but so did the boys! They had fun too! :) It was a great afternoon!

OUR WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS ON CHRISTMAS EVE!

2008-12-26T13:16:00.000-08:00

Roland had to work on Christmas so we had the girls write to Santa and ask if he could come a day early this year. So Christmas Eve was our "Christmas Day". We had a wonderful day! First Santa came and oh what fun that was! We had so much fun seeing the kids open their gifts from us and from Santa. Sammy even buys us all gifts from her Santa store at school and she gets so excited giving them to us. That day we spent just the four of us and it was wonderful!!! Roland got the family a go cart and WHAT A BLAST THAT IS! For a long time he said it was for the kids but he is finally admitting that it was for him too! HA! The girls screamed like crazy when they got this and the three of them had a ball playing with it. He would take turns with each of them and go crazy with it in the huge field behind our house. Sammy went crazy on it too, he was so happy about that. The girls got lots of games and we had fun watching movies and playing all the fun games they got. They are really getting fun as they get older. We love playing games as a family...... After that we went to our friends, The Wood Family, for dinner that night and had a blast! Karolin and I made a feast and it was soooooo good! We couldn't stop eating! Then we watched some awesome comedy while the kids played ... It was a perfect Christmas day!

Sammy and Tayler had fun telling us the story of Jesus the night he was born in the manger! They are just so precious!

They had so much fun opening all their presents christmas morning. We have so many pictures of this, how do you decide which ones to blog????? :)

Sammy was so excited to give Daddy his tool gift. It was priceless. Sammy is really learning to not only get on Christmas but to give too!

The girls had so much fun painting and making projects all day long. Don't they look cute in their smocks! They did crafts all day long!

Is she an artist or what? She says all the time that when she grows up she wants to be a painter like her Uncle Jeff! Watch out Jeff, I think she is better than you.... HA!

This is the girls playing this awesome game, Hullabalu, that Grandma and Grandpa gave to them. They LOVE it!

Both the girls got disney MP3 players and they listen to them constantly. It's so cute! They walk around the house all day singing their disney songs.... they are getting so big! CRAZY!

Here they are in their favorite toy! They had so much fun!!!!!!!!!! Sammy went crazy in this thing too! Roland was loving it!

We had so much fun spending the evening with our great friends. The girls put on a Christmas show for us and it was sooooo cute!

They had fun giving each other Christmas presents.... we had such a great night together. We just love our friends!!!!!!!

This is my awesome friend Karolin and I hanging out after all that cooking and eating! We had such a great time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS WITH OMA AND OPA

2008-12-26T13:05:00.001-08:00

We had alot of fun celebrating Christmas with Oma and Opa. We have a tradition every year of cheese fondue and martinellis for dinner...... We look forward to it every year. We listen to Christmas music and then open Christmas presents from each other. It was a wonderful day with them.....

The girls were getting a easel and paints for Christmas so Oma made them these awesome smocks! They didn't know yet they were getting the paints but they were SO excited when they got these anyways..... They look so adorable in them too! Thanks Oma!!!!!

PLAYING IN THE SNOW AT OMA AND OPA'S HOUSE!

2008-12-26T12:12:00.001-08:00

We went to Oma and Opa's house for the day to play in the snow. They got three feet of snow and what fun we had! Roland made this AMAZING sled run that we all had a blast going down. It was like 75 yards long and had turns and everything. We had so much fun. Rolands brother Alan and kids came up too and the kids had a blast playing together. It was a great day! Here are some pictures of our fun day! We got so many great pictures, it was hard to pick..... :)

Even I loved going down this cool slope! It was alot of fun going down with Roland! Us three girls are always fighting to see who can go with him! He sure is loved!!!!!!

The girls loved to throw snow balls at everyone but would run like crazy to get the attack back at them. It was so funny!

I thought this was a cool picture of Roland and his parents. They all worked to make playing fun for the kids!

This is Tayler with her cousin Justin. He is quite cool! :)

Roland and Alan were hysterical going down this crazy slide together. We were all cracking up! I LOVE this picture of Samantha and her cousin Parker! It's a priceless picture!
My girls LOVE their cousin Alexis! They always fight over who gets to hang out with her.... She is so sweet with them! Opa and Oma make playing their so much fun! They are always looking for ways to make our visits nice. We love you Oma and Opa!

WHO SAYS IT DOESN'T SNOW IN YUCAIPA?????

2008-12-18T14:51:00.001-08:00

Winter is finally here in California! And can you believe it? WE GOT SNOW!!!! :) It has been the warmest winter ever here in Cali. We didn't think the warm weather would ever leave.... and then all of a sudden it got so cold. I watch the weather in NY and we have had a few days were it's been colder here. The girls kept saying how cool it would be if it snowed here. They now it's unlikely but their wish came true. We had a huge rain storm and then the snow came and the girls were soooo excited. It even stuck to the ground a little. They woke up to snow! I got them ready for school early and then they went out to play. They were in Heaven! The best part though is the two feet of snow Oma and Opa got up in the mountains were they live. The girls can't wait to go up there and play in all that snow. Sammy tried to make a snowman here and it didn't work to well. Now she can't wait to try it up there. Of course it was all melted by the middle of the day, but for just a few moments we had a white winter! :)

OUR TALENTED SAMANTHA

2008-12-16T12:41:00.000-08:00

I have been terrible lately with taking pictures. Samantha was doing a project the other day and when she was done she showed it to me. She has a very creative mind and is always saying she wants to be an artist like her Uncle Jeff..... I was so impressed with her tree and loved the star the best! :) Her project brightens up their whole room and they brighten up my whole life! I love you Samantha and Tayler!!!!!!!

BREAKFAST WITH SANTA

2008-12-16T12:31:00.000-08:00

The girls had fun at their "Breakfast with Santa" Primary activity day. I couldn't be there but my AWESOME friend, Star, took pictures of the girls and of course I wanted to share them with my family and friends. They are just so cute! They had so much fun at this activity and all the woman worked so hard to make it nice. What a blessing the church is for so many reasons.....

The girls said they had fun telling Santa what they wanted for Christmas. Sammy is 7 1/2 now and I am scared our "Santa" days are coming to an end soon with Samantha. I pray I get one more year of it but if not, I will enjoy this magical year with her and Tayler. It's soooo much fun!

This is Samantha with her best friend Kaitlin. They have so much fun together. We love you Kaitlin!

Here are two other great friends of the girls. Shealyn and Andrea. We don't have alot of family around us but it's so great to know we have wonderful friends!

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY TAYLER

2008-12-02T11:32:00.000-08:00

We had so much fun celebrating Taylers fifth birthday. She wanted a Minnie Mouse birthday party so that is what she got! We rented a bounce house for her party and she was on it from 10am - 7pm, it was a riot! She invited all her friends and they all had a blast playing with the bounce house along with the slides and trampoline in the back yard. Tayler was on cloud nine all day and we truly loved celebrating her special day. I cannot believe my baby is five years old! I am excited on one hand because she is getting to be so much fun and can do so many things now, but on the other hand, I am so sad! She is the best cuddler ever and my days are numbered for that. She is getting so big, I can't just hold her and kiss on her like I use too. I am going to miss that so much! She is crazy sometimes I will admit and do on a regular basis, (ha!) but she is one amazing kid! :) Tayler is such a special little girl and we are so lucky to be her parents. There is not a day that goes by that we don't thank our Heavenly Father for bringing her into our family! We have two amazing kids! Happy Birthday Tayler. We love you so much!

She is such a Daddy's girl so she had to have her picture taken with him. They are such a cute pair!

My great friend, Emily, made Tayler this amazing Minnie Mouse cake! Tayler was so excited when she saw it. It was priceless! Emily, YOU ARE AWESOME!

Oh man did Tayler love being the center of attention. It was so cute!

Tayler and her friends had a ball in the bounce house. It was the perfect entertainment for the kids. After the party, my friends brought back all the older kids and they played in it for hours. We all had so much fun!

Of course Roland had to get in on the action! They kids were loving it!

She had so much fun opening all her presents. All the kids were excited too, and they were so sweet giving her the presents. They are really awesome kids!

After Tayler opened all her presents I saw Sammy off talking to Roland and she looked sad. I walked over to see what was wrong and she said she didn't get to buy her sister a present and really wanted to give her something special. It was SO SWEET! Roland told her to come on, and off they went to get her a gift from her big sister. It was so sweet. Sammy truly loves her little sister.

Here are all the crazy partiers! It was so much fun! Happy Birthday Tayler!!!!!!!

Here are my great friends that stayed and played too! :) I love you guys tons!!!!!!!!

OUR WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING!

2008-11-29T09:25:00.000-08:00

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Ours was great! My brother Matt and his beautiful little family, Camille and Molly, came to spend the holiday with us and what a great time we had. This was the first time we got to meet little Molly. The girls could not get enough of her. SHE IS SO CUTE! I couldn't stop staring at her the whole time. You can't help but fall in love with her the first second you see her, she is adorable! And all she does is smile.... SO CUTE! Our girls loved to play with her and hold her every second they could. It was so great spending time with Matt and Camille too. Matt is an awesome brother and every time I get to spend time with Camille, I grow to love her more. She is an awesome sister in law and makes Matt so happy. We just love her so much! We will cherish this Thanksgiving because we got to spend it with our wonderful family. I just wish we all could have gotten together...... :)

This is one awesome family! They are so happy and that makes all of us so happy! We love you guys!!!!!!!!

Tayler needed a little bit of help holding Molly but she ate her up just as much as Sammy. She loved her little cousin so much!

Sammy was so excited to hold Molly every chance she got. She loved how Molly would smile at her all the time. She thought she was the coolest big cousin ever! :)

Sammy and Tayler were a big help with Thanksgiving dinner. They loved putting the marshmellows on the sweet potato casserole! It was a little messy looking but tasted just as good!

And look at what a big help they were here! HA! HA!

Here is the finished work! It took three days of cooking but man it was good! Our dinner was just like the ones we grew up with, with our Mom. She made the best Thanksgiving dinners and we try to follow in her footsteps. We love you Mom!!!!!!

Sammy made up this extremely cute play for us about the pilgrims and indians. She made the costumes for each of them too, aren't they cute? They had so much fun doing the play for us. Then Sammy had projects for us to do too. She kept us very entertained! :)

Here are the girls hanging out in Mommy and Daddy's room watching Christmas movies. They are already so excited for Christmas! :)

OUR WARD PARTY TO THE LIVE OAK CHRISTMAS TREE FARM!

2008-11-24T21:48:00.000-08:00

You gotta love when you can finally get a family picture! I love my family!!!!!!!!!

Oh did they love riding this! They take after their Daddy! :)

Okay, our girls were so brave. They went on the bungy Jumping or whatever you call this. I mentioned it at first and they didn't want to go on it. After awhile they changed their minds and then we couldn't get them off of it. And they jumped so high. It was AWESOME! They were SOOOO CUTE!

Is she brave and SO CUTE or what?

Reach for the stars Tayler!!!!! :)

Tayler was quite the climber! She was so proud of herself!

The girls LOVED the slide bounce house!!!!!! They went on it a thousand times! :)

Sammy had a blast riding the pony. Tayler missed it by one minute. She was to busy playing on the bounce houses.....

These are the girls friends Andrea, Shealyn, Kaitlin and oh, where is Emily????? These are some of their best friends.... they had so much fun with them all night long!

And here are two of my very best friends! We had fun together as always! And can Jayden get any cuter or what?

OUR TALENTED LITTLE SAMANTHA

2008-11-21T18:18:00.000-08:00

Samantha had a fun day at school today. They had a Thanksgiving feast and learned about the pilgrims. She made this costume for herself and made this awesome turkey. IS SHE ADORABLE OR WHAT? She is so excited for Thanksgiving so she can do a show for us and tell us about the pilgrims and indians. Get ready Matt and Camille, it will be quite a show I am sure! HA! And she now has Tayler in on it too. I will have to get more pictures when they do their show. We have so much to be thankful for...... Especially for our wonderful family& friends, and the Gospel in our lives. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone we love. Remember all your wonderful blessings and have fun PIGING OUT!!!!! WE WILL! :)

MY AWESOME HELPERS!

2008-11-19T18:30:00.000-08:00

I was sitting at the computer doing some work and all of a sudden there were my girls standing right beside me and here is what I saw! :) They both had the biggest smiles and said they are my #1 helpers and they will do anything I want. Sammy said it in an english acent, it was too cute! For the last 15 minutes they have been doing chores for me. Everytime they are done, they come back and ask me what else they can do. Some of the things they did was, clean up their toys.... brush their teeth, give me lots of kisses.... but the best was they let me bite their cheeks! I do that when we play around. At first they were like, "NO WAY!" Then I reminded them they said they were my #1 helpers and would do what I wanted... so their they stood, willing to let me eat up their cheeks. IT WAS GREAT! MAN I LOVE MY GIRLS!!!!!!

OUR FAMILY TRIP TO DISNEYLAND!

2008-11-19T17:13:00.000-08:00

Although we love going to Disneyland with friends and family, it is always fun to go just the four of us as our own little family. IT WAS THE BEST DAY EVER! We had a blast laughing and just having fun, just the four of us. One of the best parts was that it was dead that day. We walked onto most of the rides and even went on some twice. It was sooooo great! The weather was beautiful and the girls were angels all day long! It was so fun just hanging out with each other. The girls love being with their Daddy and so do I. He makes everything we do so much fun. He is the best dad and husband in the world. I don't know how we girls got so lucky. Here are some pictures of our fun day!

Here are the three most important people in my life! Aren't they awesome?! :)

Can I just tell you..... Sammy is a crazy driver! The worse she drove, the funnier she thought it was.... it was a riot!

Tayler spent the entire day going on the rides with her Daddy. She is such a Daddy's girl and boy does Roland love that! They were so cute and had so much fun together! We were getting ready to go on the new Toy Story ride. It's awesome! Here they are in their 3-D glasses!

We did run into our great friends, Denise, Jack and Beau. The girls have been friend with Jack and Beau since they were born so they had a blast going on some rides together. They only spent a little while with us but it was a fun surprise! They loved going on this ride together!

This is my attempt at getting a picture of Roland and I. Not too bad. Roland hates pictures so I was happy he let me do this! :)

I love this picture of Sammy and I. Tayler is a Daddy's girl but Sammy is definitely a Mommy's girl and I LOVE IT! She's my buddy! She insisted we get a picture together. It was funny trying to take it. This is after a few attempts and alot of laughing!

Okay, everyone who knows Roland..... can you imagine how much fun he had on this ride? We went on this a few times. Once it was Sammy and I. I of course let her win and she thought she was so cool. When she told me she wanted to go on with Daddy, I knew she wouldn't win that time. Boy was I right. Roland was having a blast and his score was rediculous. He was so proud and had so much fun! HA! HA! Who says I don't have three kids? :)

Seriously, does it get any cute than this????? I think not! :)

This was taken at the end of our awesome day! Disneyland truly is sooooo AWESOME!

SAMMY'S LAST DAY OF SOFTBALL

2008-11-16T16:55:00.001-08:00

Here are a few more pictures of our little softball star. She went out this season with a bang. She had a hard time this season because they play harder. The kids pitch now to each other and they pitch "fast" for her! :) Her last time hitting though she finally hit the ball and ran two bases.... she made it to home plate in the end and was so happy! It was fun watching her play most of the time, when she wasn't upset about something... girls! :) She may have to put her glove to rest though... this may not be her thing. She said she decided she wanted to be a painter instead. She told me today not to throw out her craft stuff as she gets older so she can use it to teach other children art! Those were her words! HA! She is so cute!

She wanted to hit the ball so badly! This is something we love about our Samantha. No matter what, this girl really does try her best. She is so awesome!!!!

This was Sammy after she finally hit the ball and ran to base. She was SO HAPPY!

And here is her team. She had alot of fun. Her coach was amazing with her and we just loved her too! It was fun to have one of Sammy's friends on the team, Laura. It was nice for me because I had someone to sit with at the games since Roland works through everything! :(

SAMMY'S FIELDTRIP TO THE CHILDRENS MUSEUM IN PALM SPRINGS

2008-11-08T15:45:00.000-08:00

Sammy's class went to this really cool museum for a fieldtrip. They got to play at all these different areas while learning at the same time. She had so much fun with her friends and wants to go back with Tayler. I had a great time being with my sweet Samantha for the day!

Oh did she think she was cool all dressed up like a fire fighter.

They had this really cool kitchen and Sammy had a blast making pizza for me. It was a riot!

These are some of her friends from her class. They were working hard, can you tell?! HA!

She is SO CUTE! :)

She loved dressing up as a doctor and taking care of the animals. She is the cutest doctor I've ever seen! :)

Here is a picture of Samantha's class. When the trip was over she went up to her teacher all by herself and said, "Thank you so much for bringing us to such a fun place." Her teacher was touched that she appreciated it so much. Sammy truly is a beautiful child, inside and out! Her teacher told me after the trip that she has had a lot of really smart kids over the years. Also really sweet children too, but she has never had a child that is the whole package. She said Sammy is truly the whole package! We are so proud of our little girl!

OUR FUN HALLOWEEN NIGHT WITH OUR FAMILY!

2008-11-02T14:41:00.000-08:00

Samantha and Tayler had a blast on Halloween. They had pajama parties at school and ate lots of junk! :) That night we went trick or treating with their cousins and then went to their trunk or treat at their ward after that. They had alot of fun and looked adorable as always! They each picked out their own halloween costumes this year. It really made it fun for them. Oh how I love my girls! They are so fun! :)Does Sammy make an adorable Little Red Riding Hood or what? She was so excited! :) Her favorite part was her basket and red cape. She made sure I brought another bag for her candy though... the basket was not big enough for all the candy she wanted! HA!

Are these two pictures the perfect discription of Taylers personality! HA! HA! Everytime I look at these I can't stop laughing.... this is her to a tea! She is either the cutest thing you've ever seen or CRAZY! HA! HA! HA! These pictures explain her perfectly! :) I love you Tayler!

Here is a picture of the girls with their cousins... and Justins friend. They all looked amazing! We do this together every year and it's a great tradition! Oma even went with us!
They love thier little cousin Parker... isn't he cute too!
Tayler adores her cousin Alexis.... she is so sweet with her and is beautiful from the inside out! :)

ROLAND AND THE GIRLS DECORATING THIER HALLOWEEN PUMPKINS!

2008-10-20T13:07:00.001-07:00

The girls had fun decorating thier pumpkins and helping Daddy cut out our big pumkin. They look forward to this every year. It was a fun evening.

Tayler loves being Daddy's little helper!This was so funny! Sammy was so grossed out! HA! Such a girl! :)
Sammy and Tayler are so proud of thier little pumkins. They both did such a cute job!

How many husbands do you know that use power tools to cut out their pumpkin. HA! Roland figured out years ago that this makes it SO EASY! :)

GOOD JOB DADDY!

Does Sammmy look proud or what! HA!

DISNEYLAND WITH FAMILY!

2008-10-20T11:28:00.000-07:00

Another great day at disneyland. Roland had the week off so we decided to take advantage and go to Disneyland once again. I LOVE SEASON PASSES! We decided to do passes every other year so the kids appreciate it. They expire in November so we are using them as much as we can. We decided since Roland had a Friday night off, to go to Disneyland with some of his family. The girls were so excited to go with their cousins and Oma. It was crazy busy but it was still fun doing this with family. Disneyland really is the coolest place and it's so fun to see how excited the kids get going there. It was a great family night!

These are their cousins and Oma.... We all had alot of fun together!
These two could be sisters huh? They have been best buds for 6 years.... they are so cute together!

Oma went on the Merry Go Round with the girls.... I can't even watch it go round let alone go on it. Thank You Oma! :)

They have this cool bakery where they make bread right in front of you. We did this and also watched them make tortilla's. We also enjoyed the samples after! :)

We all got on this ride together. I was talking to much and not realizing what we were going on. Sammy turns around and says, "Mommy you shouldn't go on this, you will get sick!" Boy do I love her taking care of her Mommy! I cannot go on rides that go in cirlces.... they make so SO SICK! I got off it so fast the guy running the ride just laughed at me. There goes Amy making a scene once again! HA! HA!

The kids had fun watching the parade at California Adventure.... it was a really cool parade!

Rebecca and Tayler hung out most of the day together... they were buddies all night! :)

Aren't they cute! It was a looooong night! FUN but they were worn out! TOO CUTE!

GOING TO THE PUMPKIN PATCH

2008-10-06T15:24:00.000-07:00

Today the girls and I had a great day with our great friends Star, Kaitlin, Emily and Ashley. The kids had the day off of school so we decided to take the kids to do some fun things. The best thing we did today was the Pumpkin Patch. We got out their halloween shirts and don't they look cute! :) The girls had fun seeing the animals, playing on the hay, and picking out their own pumpkins. Star and I had fun in the craft store! They have great stuff there and of course I had to buy a few decorations for the house. We then went to the park and had lunch together, it was a great day.... we love you White family!!!!! These girls will be the best of friends forever!

I'm sorry but they are just so beautiful aren't they? :)

Sammy and Tayler got to pick out their own pumpkin to decorate. As you can see, Samantha couldn't make up her mind! It was so funny! You would think she was picking out a prom dress... It was a hard decision! HA! HA!

These four girls are just so cute and the best of friends. They do everything together.

So do Star and I! Love ya Star! I don't get pictures of me and my girls very often so I was happy today to get one of the three of us! I love you Sammy and Tayler!

TAYLER HAVING FUN AT THE PARK WITH HER FRIENDS!

2008-10-05T13:23:00.000-07:00

Tayler had a great time at the park with her friends while Sammy was playing softball. She was there for four hours and played every second of it. It's great to have a park right next to the softball field! That makes Mommy VERY happy! :) Tayler's favorite thing to do at the park is the swings. I tried over and over to teach her to push herself and she just couldn't do it. So EVERY TIME we went to the park I would push her forever.... well one day she slipped up. While I wasn't looking she got on the swing and pushed herself so high it was crazy! THAT LITTLE STINKER! Even today she tries to get me to push her.... Does she like to work her Momma or what?! She is too smart for her own good! :)

Tayler and Kara making Mommy nervous at the park! HA!
She must of went on this slide 100 times and each time she acted like it was her first! :)
Miguel and Tayler climbing like monkeys. Tayler got all tangled in this thing. I couldn't wait to see her try to get out of it. She did though! I was impressed!
Tayler felt so grown up pushing her friend Elissa on the swing!

Star came to see Sammy's game with her girls. Tayler had a blast playing with Kaitlin and Emily at the park too! It was a great day!

Tayler found this pinecone and was so excited about it. She made sure I held it for her all day long and kept checking to make sure I didn't loose it. Sometimes she seems so old to me and then other times she reminds me that she is still my cute little girl!

SAMANTHA'S PLAYING SOFTBALL AGAIN!

2008-10-05T12:56:00.000-07:00

Well here we are at softball again. Sammy played two years ago. She was really good but after a month she was very bored and didn't want to play again. It was like night and day. In the beginning she was the best hitter and on the outfield, WATCH OUT! She was all over the place. And what a throw she has too. Anyway, by the end of the season she didn't like it and didn't want to play again. So for two years we haven't put her back in. We tried soccer and other things and nothing seems to interest her. Well out of the blue she tells me she wants to play softball again. I talked to her about it and she really seems to want too. Well winter ball is going on right now so I checked to see if I could get her in two weeks late. They had a spot for her so here she is! She doesn't have her shirt uniform yet but she was like one of the girls in every other way. The coach once again is impressed with her throw and how well she hits. Sammy had a double header game this week so she had to play for almost four hours. I thought for sure after the first game she would want to go home. NOPE! She LOVED it! She couldn't wait for the next game. She did really well and had alot of fun. They had pizza between games as a team and she of course loved that. My friend Emily's daughter is on the team too so it was fun to hang out with them and watch the girls play together. My friend Star came with her girls to watch too. It was alot of fun! Of course Roland will miss all the games but I will take alot of pictures and video so it will be like he is there! It was fun to watch her again. I am really hoping she likes it and she will have a sport she can play and love. We will see how the season goes! Isn't she cute? :)

Look at that form! :)

Don't you just love that toothless smile! HA!

We finally had a cold day here and it was GREAT! Here we are all hanging out watching the games.

They had pizza for lunch inbetween the two games. She had a blast eating and getting to know the girls. She is making some fun new friends!

GOING TO THE MILEY CYRUS "HANNA MONTANA" CONCERT

2008-09-21T16:12:00.001-07:00

Roland got us four tickets to the Miley Cyrus concert. Hanna Montana is one of Sammy's favorite shows so when I told her we were going to her concert she was SO EXCITED! I hesitated at first bringing my seven year old to a concert but Tricia and I decided to see how it would go. Well they had a BLAST! All you saw were hundreds of little girls so excited to see their super star. When I told Sammy at first we were going to her concert, the first thing she said was, "She's real? I thought she was a disney character?" It was so cute and innocent! Well now she knows she is real and all she wanted to do is go and talk to her. Of course we couldn't do that but we had so much fun singing and dancing to her music and Sammy screamed and screamed she was so happy! Both the girls had a blast together and it was a great night!

We had so much fun going to this concert just the two of us with our good friends! I get alot of one on one time with Tayler so this was a special night for me too. I got to spend some time with just Sammy!

This is my great friend Tricia with her cute daughter Lizzie! The girls had so much fun together.... they were so cute!

We had so much fun watching together and we did alot of dancing and screaming that night! :)

She had a permanant grin on her face all night long! She is sooooo cute!

Do you think they look a little excited? Ha! Ha!

ROASTING MARSHMELLOWS IN OUR BACKYARD

2008-09-13T14:13:00.001-07:00

The weather has been so beautiful out here we wanted to enjoy it. Roland came home from last night and told the girls he wanted to roast marshmellows.... well they were so excited. Roland and I got to relax while the kids played on the trampoline and slides in the backyard. Then when the pit was hot enough we broke out the marshmellows.... it was a great evening, just the four of us!

Sammy was so proud of this marshmellow she roasted all by herself! She said I had to take a picture of it. HA!

And of course after I took a picture of Sammy like that, Tayler insisted I do the same for her. And she had to pose EXACTLY the same way! HA! HA!

Last but not least..... the girls doing what they love best..... EATING! Just like their Mommy! :)

OUR LITTLE SAMANTHA IS AMAZING!

2008-09-11T21:51:00.000-07:00

Okay, I am so excited and proud of our little Samantha! First let me say how smart our little seven year old girl is. She is doing so well in school and her teacher is constantly telling me how amazing she is..... not that I didn't already know that! HA! Anyway, one of the many things she is good at is her writing skills. When I went to "Back to School Night" all the kids in the class had written a short story and posted it in the room. Well ALL the kids had these short stories that were really cute but only one page long if that. Well Samantha's was six pages long and her penmanship and drawings were amazing! She prides herself in her work and loves to do a good job. Well I guess today in school Sammy's teacher was so impressed by a story she wrote, she brought it to the Principal to read. He too was impressed so he decided he wanted to put it on their school website! He had Sammy tell her story into a microphone and sure enough he posted it. SHE IS ADORABLE! Her story too is amazing. I can't believe a second grader wrote it. You could tell she was nervous and all but you can't help but be amazed that she wrote this story ALL BY HERSELF! I am so proud of her and just had to share it with my family and friends. Here is the Dunlap school website if you would like to hear it. http://ycjusd.dunlap.schoolfusion.us/ Go down just a little ways to where it says this: Student Reading their writing to Mr. Tucci. Click on the name of the student below to hear their writing: Sam Room 12. You can do that or just click on this link..... http://ycjusd.dunlap.schoolfusion.us/modules/groups/homepagefiles/cms/138946/File/sam.mp3?sessionid=f2fff508f45f9efd489d6c5718a9ff1f

We are so proud of our little Samantha and boy was she excited when she heard herself and knew it was on the school website. SHE IS SO CUTE!!!!!!!!!! Oh and also, Tayler is following in her sisters footsteps.... she can write to 20, spell her full name (and schmiedel is a tough last name) and write the entire alphabet by herself and she just started preschool.... she is four! We are so proud of our little girls!

HAVING FUN WITH OUR FRIENDS

2008-09-09T08:33:00.000-07:00

We had a day off from school so Star and I decided to spend the day shopping with the girls. They had so much fun together. I got the girls some cute new earrings and they went shopping at the disneystore.
The girls favorite part of the mall is the Rainforest Cafe restaurant. They love to see all the animals there.

After we went shopping we went to Chili's for lunch. My girls take after me, their favorite thing to do is go out to eat! I am such a great example.... HA! We had a fun day! The girls are best friends and just love being together......

RAGING WATERS WITH FRIENDS!

2008-08-27T17:56:00.000-07:00

We went to Raging Waters yesterday with our friends Steve, Denise, Jack and Beau. We all had so much fun going on the rides and playing in the water. The kids were in heaven! Steve and Denise are our longest Cali friends (since we've been married). We met them when we moved into our first apartment. We have been great friends ever since. The girls have been friends with Jack and Beau since the beginning. They are each just a month or two a part. They always have fun when we get together and we do too with Steve and Denise. It was a great family day and a great day with friends!

Tayler, of course, has to hang out with her best friend! Her Daddy! :)

What a cute pair! :)

The kids had fun swinging on this tire for ever! They went crazy on this thing!

Our girls were so brave and had a BLAST!

Best of friends always..... at least until the boys decide they don't like girls or the girls decide they don't like boys! HA!

This is my awesome friend Denise with her two handsome boys!

TAYLER'S FIRST DAY OF PRESCHOOL!

2008-08-20T18:35:00.000-07:00

Tayler was so excited to start preschool. She wants to be just like her big sister. She got a new back pack too and she picked Minnie Mouse, her FAVORITE! She thought she was the coolest things wearing that back pack! I brought her to school that morning and she never looked back. She was in Heaven. So am I. I get a break to mornings a week! YEAH ME! She missed the cut off for Kindergarten by one day. I was a little sad but this is much better. I am not ready for her to be gone everyday.... just a few hours a week! HA! She will be ready even more by next year. She is our little sweetheart and we love them both soooo much!

Aren't they SO CUTE?

Tayler is going to preschool with her buddy Andrea! They were sooooo excited to go to school together.... it was ADORABLE!

Karolin and I are both excited for them to go to school together.... we are going to be able to go play while they are at schoo! :)

SAMANTHA'S FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!

2008-08-20T18:21:00.003-07:00

I can't believe my Samantha is in 2nd grade! It's CRAZY! She was so excited to go back to school. She had the hardest time falling asleep the night before. I kept checking on her and she was still wide awake. She was so cute. She picked out her own backpack and of course it had to be Tinkerbell. Every year she goes back to school is hard for me. I like the break during the day, but to send her off to other people is hard for me! No matter how old she gets, she is still my baby! She has Mrs. Meidinger again this year for 2nd grade. We just LOVED HER last year so I was very happy about that...... so was Sammy. She is having a great week and I am happy about that too!

MY FAMILY IS AMAZING!

2008-08-13T07:32:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I don't have pictures of this because I didn't want to ruin it with pictures.... meaning, Roland isn't a fan! HA! But I had to blog it. I went grocery shopping today and when I got home Roland and the girls decorated the whole dinning room and living room and was singing, "We love Mommy and are so thankful for all she does for us!" They were dancing around the room singing it over and over! All three of them! IT WAS SO CUTE! And SO FUNNY! You could tell they put alot of effort into it because the girls and Roland made alot of the decorations. He even made me a little "Minnie Me" doll and said now he will always be with me! HA! HA! It was a joke but it was so funny! I felt so special! Being a Mom is the best job in the world, but it can be tiring and feel thankless sometimes. It was so cool that they took the time to show me how much they appreciate me. It didn't cost any money.... it took time and love! That means more than anything they could have bought me! I will cherrish that moment forever! I truly have the best husband in the world! And oh how sweet my girls are! I have been so blessed!

SPENDING TIME WITH FAMILY

2008-08-08T19:34:00.001-07:00

Our girls had so much fun with their cousins up in the mountains so Sheila and I decided to get together again for another sleepover.... and it was so much fun! The kids just love playing together and then Sheila, Brianna and I just girl talked and relaxed.... as much as you can with five screaming girls! HA! They played and swam, we went to Rosies for dinner, (our favorite) and frugos for a treat! They stayed up late playing and having fun. The next day they did it all over again. It was alot of fun being with family......

Tayler just loves her cousin Alissa. Alissa is a great big cousin!

Samantha and McKenna could be sisters! Aren't they so cute!

Sheila was showing me her new scrapbook toy! OH HOW I WANT IT! :)

McKenna LOVED sleeping in Taylers bed while Tayler slept with her buddy Alissa!

Rebecca of course had to join the party, it wouldn't be the same without her!

OUR FUN WEEKEND IN SAN DIEGO!

2008-08-08T14:08:00.000-07:00

We had a great few days in San Diego. First we went to the beach with our friends, the Jackson family, and we had a blast. Roland and Jake went surfing and boogie boarding. We bought the kids boogie boards too and they loved them. Sammy would do it all by herself. Tayler needed a little bit of help.... so YES, I went into the water. For those who know me, this is UNBELIEVABLE! HA! Tayler would get on her boogie board and right when the waves came I would shove her off and their she would go. It was so cute. All the kids had fun doing that and playing together. It was a really nice day! Except for Sammy's horrible sunburn around her eyes. She must have kept rubbing them in the water and rubbed the lotion right off. She looked like a raccoon. Everyone started at her that night when we went out to dinner etc... My heart ached for her.... but it's better now. Other than that it went without a hitch.

Proof that I went into the water. Roland was so proud of me! :)

Emily turned Samantha into a mermaid! How cute!

Of course we had to take Taylers famous picture of her whinning! She does this everywhere we go! It's almost comical..... ALMOST! :)

The girls had a ball staying at the hotel. They watched cartoons and swam at the pool. They had so much fun!

The next day we went shopping in Downtown San Diego. It was fun. This chess set was awesome! They played with it forever! It was so cute!

The girls bought these friends at the mall. Sammy named her puppy Tinkerbell. Tayler named hers Lizabell! She makes up the funniest names for her toys! They played with these all day and they are their new best friends!

Of course treats are always the highlight of our girls day! Can you tell how much they enjoyed these ice cream cones! :)

SLEEPOVER WITH OUR FRIENDS

2008-08-08T13:47:00.001-07:00

While Roland was in the Sierra's we had a sleepover with our great friends, Star, Kaitlin, Emily and Ashley. The kids had so much fun swimming, having pizza and just playing together. Later that night the girls had fun watching cartoons and having popcorn. They stayed up late but then went to bed so well. They were up bright and early to play again. They have been wanting to do this forever so it was really exciting for them. It was fun. The next day we took the girls to kids gym and then that afternoon they played some more and we then went to Olive Garden for dinner. It was a really fun couple of days and we hope to do it again.

You should have seen how excited they were to go to sleep together!

I don't know who was more excited to go to Olive Garden. Star and I or the kids! :)

ROLAND'S TRIP TO THE SIERRAS

2008-08-02T12:17:00.001-07:00

Roland and his brother Alan went backpacking in the seirra's for a week and they had a blast! Roland has been planning this trip for a year and had so many obstacles, we didn't think he was going to be able to go. Luckily at the last minute his brother wanted to go too and off they went. Thanks Alan! I was a nervous wreck because I didn't get to talk to him all week and I was worried.... but I have AMAZING friends who took good care of me while he was away! Thank you friends! :) The boys had a blast and said it was soooo beautiful, pictures can't do it justice. Here are a few pictures of their trip. I am so happy he had fun but not nearly as happy that he is home!!!!!!!!! It was a LOOOOONG WEEK!

ANOTHER FUN DAY AT THE LAKE!

2008-08-01T20:11:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun at the lake last week we decided to go again today. Roland's friend Brian came with us. Oma watched the girls in the morning and we went wakeboarding.... and had a BLAST! It was so fun to wakeboard again. I was nervous I wouldn't be able to do it but I did great.... it was like riding a bike. We had soooo much fun, I can't wait to go again. After that we went and got Oma and the girls and went to the beachfront to play the rest of the day with the girls. It was a fabulous day. We are enjoying Rolands summer vacation!

Roland hasn't lost his touch! He is such a great wake boarder and LOVES doing it!

I was in heaven wakeboarding. Roland taught me when we were dating and I've loved it ever since. That is, once I finally got up! HA!

Tayler was having so much fun making her little streams with the sand and water.

Sammy didn't like not having a life jacket so Roland tied his onto her. It was a RIOT! She looked like a turtle and had alot of fun acting like one! It was soooo funny!

The girls LOVE making sand castles with their Daddy. He is quite the pro.

Tayler was so excited to see her Oma!

OUR WEEKEND AT THE LAKE!

2008-07-25T16:06:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun up in the moutains at Oma and Opa's house. Roland's sister Sheila came up too so the cousins got to play with each other. We spent two days at the lake and had so much fun. The girls swam for hours and we had a blast taking boat rides. Roland and Sheila even went water skiing. I was bummed because I wasn't feeling well.... I will go next time! :( It was great being with family and getting away for a few days.......

Roland and I had fun paddling around the lake. We would take the kids for rides. All they wanted to do was go and see all the fish. I was happy to be in the boat! :)

I didn't think the kids would ever want to get out of the water! Oma either! :)

Tayler wouldn't swim by herself at first, but after awhile she was a fish just like her sister.

The girls loved playing in the tube and riding all along the lake. We even pulled them behind our paddle boat so they could look for fish! YUK! :)

Tayler wanted to see who could jump farther! :)

The girls loved the boat rides. All they wanted to do is go faster and faster! It was so cute!

This is Roland with his sister Shiela!

Tayler loved driving the boat with her Daddy. She thought she was the cooleset thing ever!

Roland had a blast water skiing! It has been too many years.... we are going to go again soon. I can't wait!

Oma and Opa just kickin it at the doc!

The girls had a slumber party. They had the whole downstairs to themselves and boy did they have fun! The watched tons of movies and played for hours. They are such great friends! My girls didn't want to come home...... It was a great visit with family!

HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY KAITLIN!

2008-07-20T20:21:00.000-07:00

We had alot of fun celebrating Sammy's friend, Kaitlin's, birthday in our backyard. The party was a hawaiin theme and boy did they love that! They loved dancing around in their hula skirts.

Shealyn said we should sing happy birthday to Kaitlin "Dominican style" and boy did the kids love that. It was fun singing cha cha cha style! :)

The kids had a blast swimming in the pool too. They were all like a bunch of fish. And look at these great friends!!!!!!!

What would we all do without our great friends! Happy Birthday Kaitlin...... we love you!

SWIMMING WITH GREAT FRIENDS!

2008-07-15T12:14:00.001-07:00

We had so much fun swimming with our friends! Roland had the day off work so we all went to Katie's house to swim. It was awesome! Alot of great friends were there. The kids had so much fun and so did the parents. Roland and Larry were there and the kids loved that. The guys had fun throwing the kids in the water and playing with them. Roland couldn't seem to stop throwing me in as well.... I eventually gave up the fight! HA! My girlfriends tried to save me a few times but we all lost in the end.... Thank you Emily Katie and Emily! YOU ARE AWESOME!!!!!! The boys tag teamed, and we lost. But we had fun trying. :0) Sammy and Tayler love the water. Sammy has even learned how to swim and we are proud of her. Sammy and Tayler were jumping in the water and going crazy! It was great! The pictures are sideways... sorry about that! :0) We all laughed and had a fabulous day! It was a great summer day!

OUR CAMPING TRIP WITH THE JACKSON AND HARRIS FAMILY

2008-07-11T20:26:00.001-07:00

We had a great time camping at Barton Flats up in the mountains. The girls had fun with their friends and we had fun with ours. We had fun having water gun fights, hiking, jeeping, playing in the stream, eating and alot of other fun things. It was so nice to get away from reality for a little while and be together as a family and with friends. Callie brought a game (charades for kids) and the girls loved that. They want to buy it now. The kids were drenched half the time because they had huge water gun fights... it was a riot. And of course the smores were the biggest hit with my girls, you know them and food! Who am I kidding. It was one of the highlights for me too! :) The evening was great when the adults just got to talk all night long. We laughed and had so much fun. Finally at 1:30am we decided we should probably go to sleep. The second night it was just us and the four of us had fun too. That night it was just Roland and I and it was so awesome to just sit, enjoy nature, and connect together without all the distractions of home. It was priceless. I love you Roland!!!!! The few negatives of the trip were our air mattresses that kept deflating and the HUGE BUGS!!!!! One time I was taking the girls to the bathroom and a HUGE bug went flying by us and all three of us screamed like crazy and Sammy ran out of the bathroom with her pants down. IT WAS SO FUNNY LOOKING BACK AT IT, but at the moment we were freaking out! HA! HA Other than these few things and being extremely dirty, it was a perfect three days. Nature is so amazing and so are family and friends. We love our little family and love our friends, the Jacksons and Harris's

THE FORTH OF JULY

2008-07-11T15:26:00.000-07:00

We had alot of fun on the forth of July. We had our friends come over to go swimming, eat and play. The Jacksons, Maksimuks and Johnsons came over and the girls had so much fun. We ate lots of food and then sat on our culdesac and watched the fireworks. We get a great view from our house. It was so much fun and we love our friends. Daddy of course had to work. BOO HOO!!!!!!

WHAT WOULD WE DO WITHOUT FRIENDS!

2008-06-29T09:07:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it's my birthday. I wasn't going to celebrate my birthday because I am in denial! But an amazing friend did something so special for me. Roland had to work today so I wasn't going to make a cake or anything and he said we would celebrate a day he is off, with the kids. Well last night an awesome friend called me and said she had something for me. She came over with this amazing cake and I was so excited! Emily not only made this awesome cake but she topped it off with getting my age right!? I have been celebrating my 29th birthday for seven years now and only a really good friend would remember that! HA! Thank you Emily for thinking of me and for being a great friend! The girls are so excited to eat this today and of course so am I!

Oh and Emily isn't going inactive, she just got out of the pool! :0)

THE GIRLS HAVING FUN IN THEIR POOL

2008-06-21T18:30:00.000-07:00

For weeks now the girls couldn't wait to open up their pool. It's finally open and we can't keep them out of it. They have so much fun. They are our little fish!

SAMANTHA STEALS THE SHOW!

2008-06-21T18:21:00.000-07:00

Samantha's class did a play about the water cycle the last day of school and had a big pajama party. Samantha's teacher told me that Sammy steals the show but I didn't realize what she meant until I saw it. She had so many lines in the play and memorized ALL OF THEM! It was crazy! And she put so much drama and personality into it, she is a natural actress. I was so proud of her. They had fun with their pajama party after. Sammy brought her favorite book and a bunch of kids sat around while she read stories out of her book. We also got her report card and she did GREAT! The average reading level for first graders is between a 6-8. Samantha is at level 18! Her teacher said she puts so much pride into her work and always wants to do a good job. She is like that at home too, always wanting to choose the right and be a good girl. We are just so proud of her. It was so much fun to see Sammy in action at her class and she had so much fun!

THE START OF OUR LITTLE FAMILY

2008-06-10T21:27:00.001-07:00

A girl always dreams of marrying a wonderful man who will take her to the temple and be a great father and husband. I never dreamed I could not only marry someone who treats me like a princess, but marrying my very best friend. I met Roland through my brother Jeff over 10 years ago. He was serving a mission with Jeff. I called Jeff one time on his mission because I was throwing my parents a 25th anniversary party and wanted him to be a part of it. While I talked to him he was serving with Schmiedel. Schmiedel wanted to hear my NY accent (which was quite strong back then) so we talked for a minute. He was really funny and made me laugh. A few months later Jeff sent home a bunch of pictures and on one of them it said, "Amy this is Schmiedel, the missionary you talked to." I remember sitting at my Moms house looking at that picture, wishing I could meet someone not only so cute but also a fun guy and great member of the church. Who would have thought two years later I would be marrying him in the Temple. And what a wonderful 10 years it has been. I've never known anyone who truly loves someone the way he loves me. He treats me like a princess and is truly my very best friend. And what a Dad! :) We now have two beautiful little girls and a sweet little boy in Heaven waiting for us. We have had our trials but the Lord has blessed us so much and we couldn't possibly ask for more. Maybe more time and more patience.... but then nothing else. HA!

SAMANTHA'S END OF THE YEAR GIRL SCOUT CEREMONY

2008-06-10T21:16:00.000-07:00

Samantha had her closing ceremony for girl scouts this past weekend and she was so excited. Our friend Emily was her girl scout leader and what an amazing leader she was, THANK YOU EMILY! Sammy had fun being the spotlight for a few minutes and getting her badges. All the girls also got a present from the girl scout leaders and it was a little dog that Samantha LOVES! The ceremony was in Emily's backyard and the kids had a ball playing and eating. Daddy was actually home and didn't miss this..... what a miracle! It was a fun afternoon!

Okay, have you ever seen two kids this happy about food????? Where do they get it???? :)

CHECK OUT THIS COOL NEW BAND!

2008-06-01T18:49:00.001-07:00

Tayler loves playing with her friend Andrea. They spend lots of time together and have found favorite things they love to do . One thing is dressing up and then performing for us. The best was when they started their own little band. They had a blast performing for all of us. It was so cute. When they were all done they high fived each other and were so proud of themselves.... it was SO CUTE!

SAMANTHA'S 7TH BIRTHDAY

2008-05-27T12:14:00.000-07:00

Samantha went to disneyland for her big celebration but on her actual birthday we still wanted to celebrate our little girl. Sammy was so excited to turn seven and loved all the attention she got on her special day. She loved picking her favorite cake and ice cream. She was in heaven when we sang to her and the girls loved eating all the cake and ice cream. I don't know where they get their obsession with food! HA! HA! Samantha is such a great part of our family and we thank Heavenly Father everyday for blessing us to be her parents. We love you so much Samantha!!!!!!!!!

I surprised Sammy that day at school and brought her class dougnuts. When I walked in I thought she was going to die. IT WAS SO CUTE! She was so excited. She helped me pass out all the treats and all the kids wanted to take pictures with her. She was so loved. She loved it when we sang happy birthday to her. It was so much fun spending that time with her and her class.

Samantha loves her teacher, Mrs. Meidinger and her teacher seems to really love her too. She is always telling me how proud of Sammy she is. She said she is so advanced and loves to learn. She is a great joy to have in her class and is so obedient. We are so proud of her.

HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY SAMANTHA & 6TH BIRTHDAY MADISON!

2008-05-14T14:33:00.001-07:00

Samantha and her awesome friend Madison celebrated their birthdays together at Disneyland. They have been friends since Sammy was one year old and they have loved each other ever since. We were sad when we moved away from them but the girls still get so excited to see each other and play. I think they will be friends forever.... just like thier Mommies. Tayler and Mary (Madison's sister) are becoming great friends too... when Tayler is in a good mood that is! :)

The girls had so much fun seeing all the characters. Sammy and Tayler loved it because they all said happy birthday to them... well they didn't say it, but you could tell that is what they wantede to say.... it was so cute. The girls loved all the attention they got at disneyland for their birthdays!

Who would have thought six years ago that we would become such amazing friends! Marisol, you are like my sister and I love you tons! Sammy and Madison are following our footsteps. Such great friends!

Samantha and Madison bought each other gifts for their birthday. They are quite into pirates I guess! It was so cute!!!!!

Roland met another woman while we were there! I was quite jealous! :)

Buddies forever! Mary was sleeping! :)

We had so much fun going to Goofy's Kitchen for Sammy & Madison's birthday. The girls loved eating dinner with all the characters. We were visited by so many, but of course my girls favorite was Minnie Mouse. Actually Chip and Dale were quite a hit too and boy did Goofy love messing around with them all. They got to dance with the characters too. It was so much fun! I thought Sammy and Tayler were going to pop they were so excited!

Happy Birthday Samantha and Madison

2008-04-30T16:12:00.000-07:00

These are my amazing siblings and some of my very best friends. From Left to Right is Matt, Jennifer, Kevin, "ME", and Jeff. We all got together for Kevins wedding to Rikki and it was awesome! All of my siblings along with my parents got together for the first time in quite a few years. We all live around the country and it's hard for all of us to get together all at the same time. It was such a wonderful reunion. All five of my siblings are doing great. Just a quick catch up for all of you who remember my siblings growing up. Matt is now 28. He got married in November of 2007 to an amazing girl, Camille WE LOVE HER! They are now expecting their first baby and it's a girl! They are so excited. Matt has a wonderful job and they just bought their new home in Utah. They are doing great! Jennifer is 36, married with four kids (Brandon, Brent, Kami and Katie, all of which are now teenagers!). They built their new home a year ago and they did it all on their own. Its beautiful and they are all doing wonderful as well. Kevin is in college and will be going to law school. He just got married to a beautiful girl, Rikki and we love her too! Oh and he is 24 now! OLD MAN! :) I won't bore you with me! :) Jeff is doing amazing also. He is 33, married to Jenn, another awesome girl, for 10 years now. They have three beautiful kids, (Chase and Ady (twins) and their new little baby Cole.) They have a beautiful home in Salt Lake City and Jeff just bought his own art studio which is amazing and he is quite the famous artist too! As you can see, all my siblings are doing wonderful and I love them all so much! I truly have been blessed with an amazing family. I am waiting for more pictures so I can have a good one of all seven of us. It was an awesome visit. A weekend I will truly cherrish.

OUR FAMILY TRIP TO DISNEYLAND WITH OMA

2008-04-04T10:08:00.001-07:00

WE LOVE DISNEYLAND!
We invited Oma to come with us and we had so much fun! Sammy had a blast going on the all the rides with Oma. Tayler of course, the Daddy's girl that she is, had to go on all of them with her Daddy. Roland had fun playing with the girls and acting like a monkey at the treefort. He makes everything for us so much more fun. BECAUSE HE IS CRAZY!! HA! Their favorite ride that day was the buzz lightyear ride. They had fun helping buzz kill off all the bad guys. Then Oma bought them there own lazer guns and they haven't stopped playing with them yet. It's too cute. Daddy keeps running around the house shooting them as well. He's our biggest kid of all. They make for the best Daddy's! :) We had a great day at disneyland as always and loved sharing our day with Oma.

TAYLER'S DANCE CLASS

2008-03-29T15:20:00.000-07:00

We put Tayler in a dance class with her friend Andrea and they have so much fun together. It's quite a riot to see Tayler try to do ballet. TOO CUTE!

It's fun doing our class with friends Karolin and Andrea.

AWARD CEREMONY FOR ROLAND'S MEDAL OF VALOR

2008-03-29T14:35:00.000-07:00

We went to an award ceremony where Roland got a medal of valor for saving a 15 year old and her unborn baby. We are so proud of him. His job can be hard but he said it's things like this that make it all worth it.
Roland with his father and mother.

We are so proud of our father and husband! What a guy!!!!

EASTER SUNDAY

2008-03-29T14:21:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful Easter. The girls got to spend it with their cousins. We had a great dinner with Rolands family and had a huge easter egg hunt on our culdesac. That night we had a fire in our fire pit and just enjoyed each others company. It was a great way to celebrate this beautiful day!

Brianna, Rebecca, Alissa, Samantha, Tayler and Mckenna

They could all be sisters couldn't they?

Our beautiful little girls!

The kids had so much fun on their easter egg hunt.

Dessert it always the best part of the meal! :)