White Stars in Murrieta

So, we've lived in Murrieta for about 4 years now and I have always noticed these white stars painted on the residential streets. They are about 3 feet by 3 feet solid white stars painted on different streets around our neighborhood and other residential neighborhoods in Murrieta. I've asked people about the stars, but no one seems to know what they're for and no one even realized there were painted stars on the ground. It's just been a big mystery for the last few years for me.

THEN, last night, I thought the cops were outside the house because I heard sirens and someone talking on a loud speaker. It turns out it wasnt the cops, but a city organization that brings Santa and his sleigh out to the neighborhoods all around Murrieta. They announced on the loud speaker to "GO TO THE STAR" and meet up with Santa, his reindeer and Frosty the Snowman.

The organization trys to collect canned goods while they have Santa go around the town. It's a pretty cool thing that the city does every year.

So, when I heard the announcement to "Go to the Star," I threw on some shoes and put a jacket on Kiley and we walked down our street to the white star painted on the road. And sure enough, Santa was there!

Kiley was so scared of him so I sat with her and took a picture with Santa. She was still nervous and crying, but she did OK. My neighbor, the dirt head (self titled) took our picture...he reeked of beer, but he's a nice guy. Kiley was really interested in Santa, his reindeer and Frosty the Snowman, but only wanted to see them from a distance. She keep saying "looka mama" and pointing to the snowman.

Just to let you know, I asked one of Santa's helpers about the white stars on the ground. The white stars were painted for this event and nothing more. There is NO other reason for the white stars all around Murrieta.

Kiley Pictures

Kiley just had her pictures taken, so I thought I would post a couple. Sorry about the quality...I scanned a copy of the picture into the computer and it didnt work so well.

Ducks Game

Me, Ryan, Joe and Dad went to the Ducks vs Flames game last night. Ducks won in a shoot out.

This was my first invite to a Ducks game in a long time, but Dad said if I wanted, we could make this a tradition, every 5 years, they invite me to a game! Sad. But I had fun. Thanks for inviting me.

Happy Birthday Troy

Since it's Troy's birthday, we went to dinner at the Spaghetti Factory in San Marcos on Saturday night. We're so glad we live so close to each other so that we could celebrate his 33rd Birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TROY!


Here's Kiley eating her ice cream.

Marine Ball

Shawn and I attended the Marine Corps Ball on Monday, November 9, 2009. It was held on the Midway ship in San Diego.

Joe's Mission Call

My youngest brother Joey just got his mission call. He is going to Paris, France!
Mom and Dad were out of town, so I took pictures for them and Joe's friend took video.

This picture shows it all. Joe's face is excited and shocked. I love this picture mostly because he looks SO happy.

Happy Halloween

Kiley was a skeleton for Halloween this year. This was my first year dressing her up and going out with her. (last year Shawn and Kiley went to UT for Halloween)

Kiley went with my mom and dad to their ward Trunk or Treat a week before Halloween so she already understood that she was going to get candy if she held out her pumpkin bucket.

We went to visit my Grandpa Ford at the Murrieta Gardens and showed off the costume to all the old folks. They thought she was a boy (oh well).



At night, we went to my aunt Nancy's house and did some trick or treating. My aunt and uncle do this thing where they invite TONS of families to come to their house on Halloween and sit out on the driveway and in the garage and hang out passing out candy and eating food. They had a bouncy jumpy thing in the front yard and friends and neighbors sat in lawn chairs on the driveway passing out candy. It was perfect because we hit up about 7 people for candy right there in the driveway.

People are funny. They see Kiley all cute and small and give her the biggest handful of candy possible, but then older kids never get as much as her. What are they thinking? They seriously dont know me because Kiley got to eat maybe one or two things out of the candy stash. The rest is still somewhere around the house. I'm not much of a candy eater and Shawn doesnt seem to be eating it either. Candy is going in the trash this week if its still hanging around.

Shawn's Birthday!

Shawn had his 27th Birthday on Oct 30, 2009. We opened presents after work and then Troy joined us for dinner at the Outback Steakhouse. It's been so nice having Troy live so close.

We did cupcakes instead of cake...mostly because cupcakes are SO good.



And Shawn's big gift/almost only gift, was the Wii.



So far he's been playing it a lot, but recently he's put the Wii down to read a Dan Brown book that he also got for his birthday.

(Shawn thinks I'm stupid for making him pose for a picture with his Wii. I don't care...I spent a lot of money on it and if i want a picture, i should get a picture)

Pumpkin Patch

Today, we went to Bates Nut Farm for the pumpkin patch. The parking lot was packed, but it was surprisingly not too bad walking around the farm. We got there around 1pm and spent about 1 1/2 hours there. SUPER FUN. We will for sure go back next year.



Kiley had a blast at the petting zoo area. She was so brave. She walked right up to a goat and tried to pick him up! She just wanted to be their friends so badly. One of the goats went into his dog house and she just stayed at the front of the dog house petting him and loving him.



We went through the hay maze...not so much fun, but Kiley liked the freedom to walk where ever she wanted.



When we went to the pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin, Kiley was SO excited. She wanted to get a pumpkin so bad. She even says "pumpkin" now. All the pumpkins were too big for her to carry and she really wanted to pick one up herself. We found the perfect pumpkin for her....just her size. She loves this pumpkin. She even wanted to hold the pumpkin at bedtime. I think she wanted to sleep with her pumpkin!

In the evening, Kiley went with Mom and Dad to their ward Trunk or Treat. She is a skeleton this year. No pictures yet, but hopefully mom will email me some of the ones she took.

WHY DO I LAUGH EVERYTIME I LOOK AT THIS PICTURE?

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY KILEY

Today was Kiley's 2nd Birthday.

For Kiley's birthday, Shawn and I had decided to get her a "big girl bed." I also found on craigslist a table and chairs that I painted to match her room. She's a little young for a bed, but we figure she needs to learn to sleep in a bed at some point, so why not now?

Here's a picture of her NEW ROOM!



She took a little nap in her bed - no problems!



We went over to my Mom and Dad's for dinner, cake and the opening of presents. Kiley was SO spoiled. She got books, movies, dress up shoes and jewlery, clothes, bowling and soccer stuff, a backpack, and a stroller for her dolls. Im sure there's some things I'm forgetting, but this is the gist of it. She was opening presents for what seemed like an hour. Thanks for all the gifts everyone, it was WAY too much, but she loved it all.



I made her birthday cake this year. It was the birthday cake from HELL. It took 4 trips to the grocery store before I had all the ingredients. It was HORRIBLE. I don't know what was wrong with me, but I would forget things, or I would swear I had something at home, but when I got home, I didnt have the ingredient. It was not a good experience. And to top it all off, the cake turned out lopsided. I guess this should teach me a lesson....always use store bought cakes.



HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEAR!

Kiley almost 2 years old

I want to write this stuff down because I know in the future I'll want to look back to see what Kiley was going on with Kiley at almost 2 years old.

These are the things she says:
Actual Word: Blanket / Kiley says: Gankie
Actual Word: Yes / Kiley says: Yesh
Actual Word: Darla (our dog) / Kiley says: Darda
Actual Word: Please / Kiley says: Peez
Actual Words: I want / Kiley says: I yant
Actual Word: Yucky / Kiley says: Ucky
Actual Words: Thank you / Kiley says: Tank you
Actual Word: Grandpa / Kiley says: gampa
Actual Words: Here you go / Kiley says: Un go
Actual Words: Good night / Kiley says: nigh nigh
Actual Word: Book / Kiley says: Gook
Actual Word: Sorry / Kiley says: Shorry
Actual Words: I love you / Kiley says: le you
ALSO: If you ask "what's your name", she says "Kiley"

She loves to color, sing and dance. She is a girly girl! She loves dolls, shopping carts, hair bows, and hair brushes. She loves taking a bath. She loves reading. We read so many books each day. If she had her way, we would read for hours and hours. Her favorite TV show is the Backyardigans. She doesnt really watch too much TV, but its usually the Backyardigans.
Above all those things, her most favorite thing in this world are SHOES. She LOVES shoes. no joke, she wants to wear shoes at all times. in the morning, i let her pick what shoes to wear. Grandma Neener got her some PJ's that have the feets on them, and these are probably her most favorite pair of "shoes" that she has.
Kiley still can't sleep without her "gankie." She goes to bed without a fuss (occasionally we have a rough night, but most nights she goes right to bed). She always wakes up early. Well, early for me (7am)
Kiley's still small for her age. She wears size 12 month - 18 months. Size 4 shoes. She actually has a pair of jean shorts that still fit her, size 3 months! (shown in the picture above with the pink heart shirt).
Kiley eats more then a normal adult. She eats everything and almost anything. She loves fruit, bananas, strawberrys and peaches especially. She always says "I wanna cookie", but that just means she wants something to eat. She doesnt know the difference between the word: cookie and the word: food.
Shawn is determined to have her play soccer when she's older. They are working on kicking the ball and she's getting quite good. She uses her feet to kick instead of her hands now!
Kiley loves to get me the diapers and wipes to change her diaper, but after she brings me the stuff, she makes a run for it. She HATES getting her diaper changed almost as much as I hate changing it. I NEED potty training to begin, but she does not understand the concept of "going to the bathroom."
Time-out has become a daily thing for her. She likes to hit me and Hank (the dog). She used to get upset about sitting in the corner and would cry until she could come out, but now she sits in timeout and doesnt complain. She acts like she enjoys a little quiet time in the corner. Not sure she understands why she's sitting there.
One of my favorite things about Kiley is how loveable she is. She loves to hug and loves to give kisses. She'll just come up and give me a huge hug for no reason. I love it.
Kiley's birthday is next Sunday (Oct 11) and she'll be 2 years old!

Everything's Going Missing

I feel like Shawn and I have become detectives lately. We are always on the look-out for things she's taken. Kiley is constantly picking up things and hiding them. I know she doesn't mean to hide them, but she puts them places where we never think to look.

A couple days ago I went into the hall closet to get some toilet paper and instead of toilet paper, I found toys. Kiley had moved the toilet paper to make room for some stuffed animals and her doll!

Troy was over at the house on Sunday and I spot Kiley pushing her shopping cart toy down the hall. I stopped her once I realized that inside the cart were Troy's cell phone and the TV and DVD remotes. I'm sure Troy would have been looking everywhere for that phone and I'm not sure we would ever have found it.

Then, last night Shawn couldn't find his cell phone chargers (plural). We looked for a few minutes last night, but decided Kiley must have put them in her room. We didn't want to wake her up, so we waited until this morning to go look in her room for the cell chargers. They were no where to be found. We looked everywhere in the house, the kitchen drawers, the trash can, the toy box, under the bed, under the couch, inside her dresser drawers, inside our closet. NOTHING. I kept walking around the house thinking "If I were Kiley, where would I hide these." We pretty much gave up. Then, as I'm waking in the bathroom, I tripped over a shoe and fell on top of a clothes hamper (with a lid). I probably broke the lid, but that's not what caught my attention. Inside the clothes hamper were the cell phone chargers!

I honestly dont know why she decided to put the chargers into the hamper. SO WEIRD.

Weekend in SLC

This weekend Kiley and I went to Salt Lake City to visit Vic, Stephanie, Lisa and Gus. Kiley had a blast like always. She loves her grandpa and grandma.

Kiley loved playing outside and feeding the fish. Uncle Gus helped her clean out the pond.





Sunday morning, Stephanie and Vic took Kiley to church while I went with Melissa, Mark, Ashton, Teri and James to see Dad's new cabin in Heber, UT. We all like it a lot. Melissa has a weird idea about the downstairs bedroom/bathroom. She calls it "the Glodowski room" Not sure where she got the idea because when i talked to dad, he said that he got the house because he thought the downstairs bedroom/bath would be a perfect room for me, shawn, kiley, hank and darla.

Melissa and Teri made Kiley a tutu. She was unsure about it at first, but once I put it on her, she had a ton of fun. She was dancing and twirling!



We spent most of Sunday night hanging out. Gus was determined to make kiley love him. He was so good with her. She thought he was so funny.



Wish we could have stayed longer. Weekend trips just seem to go by so quickly. We are hoping to have some visitors in California in a couple months (hint hint Lisa, Leila and Stephanie)

Funny Stuff

So, when Shawn is really tired and laying in bed trying to fall asleep, he sometimes says things that make no sense. He's 1/2 asleep and talking at the same time. After a while, I decided it might be funny to write down the things he says.

These are my favorite "Shawn" quotes from the past month.

"I miss my 'best of both worlds' hat. It was so pretty in all its bedazzled gloriousness."

"Hunny, butlers don't just build bridges on their own, we have to pay for stuff like that"

Someday, Im gonna be knighted by the queen of England. It's gonna be a happy day"

Taylor Family Reunion

This weekend was the annual Taylor Family Reunion Camping Trip. This year the camping trip was at Cedar Mountain in Utah. We really liked the location mostly because its only an 8 hour drive for us!

Kiley had such a good time, but I think the excitement of camping and 4-wheelers made her a bit cranky sometimes. She didn't really want to do anything else except ride the 4-wheelers or play on the 4-wheelers.

I think Kiley's favorite part of the trip was being with her grandpa and grandma. She LOVED playing with them this weekend and Shawn and I really enjoyed having some down time. THANKS STEPHANIE AND VIC!!!


Grandma Neener, Grandpa Vic and Kiley

It was DIRTY and DUSTY there. Kiley just could NOT stay clean. She went through every outfit I packed for her.

Auntie Lisa, Leila and Kiley

Oh yeah, and Shawn won some sort of contest.

4th of July

Shawn Kiley and I went to Kanab UT for the 4th of July. It was Grandma Fleckner's family reunion. Melissa, Ryan, Mr. Ashton, Mom and Dad were all there. It was really great to see everyone, but we wished Joe, Mark, Teri and James could have been there too.

We spent a lot of time hanging outside of Great-Aunt Zelma's house. Kiley and Ashton had so much fun playing outside.

We went to the Kanab parade in the morning.

Mom rode in a corvette in the parade. No one really knows why. Weird.

Kiley enjoying her candy that she collected from the parade. She never ate any of it, but she loved putting the candy in her bag and taking it out and then putting it back in her bag.

Kiley getting ready to leave the hotel. She looks so happy because she had no idea what was in store for her....an 11 hour car ride home. Ridiculous.