kandi

Girl, you had us wrapped around your finger from the start!
Those big brown eyes, everyone said you had mom's. And they are gorgeous.


You crack me up. You are so darn funny! You have the cutest personality of any little girl. 
Did you know, when you were born you were so itty-bitty, we could have put you in dolly clothes!


You are witty and bright, and you can make just about anyone laugh...and you don't even have to say anything, you just make those crazy Kandi-kane faces!

You loved Dora. Absolutely adored Dora the Explorer.  You had Dora everything...and Hello Kitty! 

You are an unbelievably talented artist, always coloring and painting and making projects!  I love putting your pictures up--they're always so creative. Your BEAR picture has been on our fridge since we've been married. WE LOVE IT!

I don't know how you do it, but you have ALWAYS been the BEST sleeper. ALWAYS. Girl, lightening could strike and you wouldn't hear a thing.  We can be in the car for 2 minutes and then you're passed out.  I wish I had your ability to sleep....and oh my, if we wake you up too early! 

You can be one grumpy grump, but once you get your rest, you are the SWEETEST THING in the world! We never had to worry about you going down for a nap... we'd just find you passed out somewhere all snuggled up.

You are so thoughtful and loving.  You give the best huggies around! Whenever anyone is sad or upset, you say just the right things!  We keep your little bear you gave us for Christmas! We love it too; it always makes us think of you!

I just love you to pieces! You don't forget that, missy! You are beautiful and fun to be around!

holly.

 You are so dang pretty and cute it's not even funny!
You were my best-ie when we were younger...when you were two I always made you sleep in my bed because you were the best cuddle-buddy ever.

Did you know you were obsessed with dalmatians for the majority of your childhood? Seriously. Obsessed. You got this dalmatian puppy when you were 2 that would wag it's tail and bark.  We went to chuck e' cheese for your birthday for what seemed like ...e.very.year.

You are so incredibly smart. And you crack me up! You can cook and bake, and do pretty much whatever you want. You are going to go far.  You LOVED to dance as a baby. ALWAYS. Whenever music was on, you'd grab whatever was around and start jammin' out. We all loved it, ..because we all love you!

When you're world famous doing shows, don't forget to invite me! 

josh.

josh.

Is the greatest brother you could ever wish for.
I think the first 8 years of my life we fought like crazy, but then we grew up a bit..and stopped fighting.


Remember when we lived in the one-bedroom house in California and my only hiding spot was between the wall and the fridge...until you figured out you could hit me with the broom...it wasn't the greatest after that.

Or when you took me to the mall when i was 12 and told me i better not be meeting up with any boys (which i wasn't)...but when some kid from school came up to say "hi", you showed up out of nowhere and started cussing him out and telling him to leave me alone...ha. well he did.

I think my all-time favorite might have been when we lived on 82nd and I elbow dropped Justin** (the mean kid who lived up the hill) on the trampoline. i thought you were so proud of me... i would have done it every time he came over. in retrospect, it probably wasn't the best thing to do.



You are so talented.  You have a rough exterior to most people, but I know you're a big softy when it comes to family. You take care of us so well--protector style. You are a talented masseuse too.  I remember comments from your patients. You're good at what you do.. it must run in the family.

I don't know anyone who fixes cars better than you. Thank you for making sure my car made it to college and back for me..and for changing my oil. and my tires. and checking my brakes.. and everything else you did.

I love you. Now that you're this pro-athlete i don't know how to keep up with you. don't leave me in the dust, alright?

my mom.

This post has been a "long-time-in-the-making"..

Basically, im going to spend one post a day on each family member and some thoughts i recall about our experiences:


To start it off--- let's here it for my momma!


My Mom.

i love her so much. she is the hardest working woman i have/will ever know. she taught me how to be effective-truly effective. and how to care for others. she loves the people she works with---i mean, really, honestly cares about the welfare of her patients-their entire well-being. she's health conscience, and helped me understand that, "Heavenly Father only gave us one body--it's our job to take care of it!"

When I was 5 my Aunt Debbie made us twinner aprons.  They were yellow with school buses? on them. i have no idea. but they were adorable.  One of my favorite memories with my mom was probably christmas of '95.

we were poor. i have no idea what in the world i may have gotten that year, but i remember making homemade ornaments with my momma in our one-bedroom house in california.  They were the BEST ornaments i have ever seen! we still have them. we decorated them with fabric paints.  I had no idea how creative my mom was.  they are uber-cute!  i tried to re-create them with my sisters last year, but to no avail---it just wasn't the same.

I love you mom.
You are beautiful inside and out.
You're stylish and sexy and fun to be around!

You have two laughs. Did you know that? One for your patients and ...and one for us. I love ours. The one you give us when you're completely excited by something we say. I'm glad you save it.

where to begin.

THE GRE.

i loathe the GRE. almost as much as i loathe our electric company--namely known as "The GRU"

The sad part is...i really didn't loathe it. I just get so darn frustrated by it. 

I blame it for my lack of posting as of late.

it.consumed.my.life.

I've taken it once before, but re-took it 

(now that it's practically a completely different test) 

for a nursing program I am applying for.

Who really enjoys 4 hour exams? seriously. 

after about 2 1/2 my brain wants to explode.

Thankfully, i have survived. Taylor has survived..and so far, our marriage has survived.

Really. i was a bit psychotic for a moment. but im back.

I got what i needed! woot woot! Thank you, Heavenly Father!

And thank you, boo dalby for this sweet note!
(ps. we do actually FOLD our clothes too)

i can't even believe it's over.

new years

i got my boo back for new years!
woohoo!

We ate Olive Garden on our way home from the airport
(which I'm getting less and less enchanted with as I get older...but I still can really pound the breadsticks. not.gunna.lie.)

Got home at like 1130ish??
(we wanted to go to this fabb bash some friends were throwing but we were pooped)

Enough time to pee, drink a glass of water, and find some ridiculous webcam of NYC to watch the ball drop!

Seriously, being married has made my bedtime want to be at 930-or 10pm.
I'm used to watching the ball drop at 9pm. staying up til midnight is rough.

But successful!

Happy 2012.
I really love the "even" years. they are always better than the odd ones.

Top 2012 Goals:

1.READ the entire old testament

(im already in numbers.im pretty stoked about it!)

2....WORK on perfecting cupcake decorating! 

(book already purchased!)

3. Begin nursing program.

bring.it.on 2012.

Skype.

tay and i have never spent more than a few nights apart since being married.
and ...then we spent a week apart starting Christmas day.

worst.thing.ever.

I flew out of Ohio at 3 pm on Christmas day..
Arrived in orlando, solo mind you, found our car....and drove the two hours home that night.
lonely and depressing to recall.

I spent the week without a phone, really...because i only have an ER one. which. let's be real, isn't all that helpful most times.

WHICH, is why i love SKYPE.
Tay and I skyped every night and read scriptures and said prayers.
Really skype.. you were the greatest invention ever.
I want to have skype dates with everyone who lives far away now.

when are you available?

family pics

emily dalby mangum is basically this pro photog who took some amazing shots of the family.

Which was fab seeing as we don't have any recent pictures of tay's family--only ones from our wedding.
...which was 2 and a 1/2 people ago.

These were some of our fav's:

merryhappychristmas!
Thanks emo for some great memories!

christmas

i love christmas.


i love family.

i love food.

i love travelling.

And i love my boo.

---All of which encompassed my holiday season.

In a quick blurp:

We spent the holiday with the Dalby's in OHIO.
The first holiday I got to spend with Tay's family and it couldn't have been better. Michael.Georgia.Adam.Taylor
.Emily.Ryan.(baby bump Henry).
Kaylea.Josh.Gus-Gus.and Brynn.

Oh my, we baked, we ate, we read scriptures, we partied, we watched movies, we wrapped, we chatted, and we just had the greatest time ever. I haven't spent much time with his family before..because we've always been so far away.. or we would visit but they'd be real quick trips. I actually got to spend about a week there.. which I am so so grateful for!

They really are a talented and cheery bunch! i sure do love em' all.

I flew back mid-Christmas day-solo because I had to work.. (super depressing..let's not dwell) but ALL-in-All. a perfect holiday.  I even got to skype my family back in Washington. Seriously.

Inventor of skype. i love you. like, really love you.

ch-check it out:

The fam. (i have no idea what michael dalby is describing...but it's captivating)

 me and my wilton tips!

boo and his sperry's!



We had a blast, we got giftcards, sweet letters, red velvet cupcake mix, some super-cute pantry towels (thanks brynn!), sperrys, anat/phys books, mag subscriptions, bows and bands,  and tons of LOVE.



PS did i mention gussy got blessed on Christmas day?! how sweet was that. He just talked and cooed his lil' heart out the whole time. we loved it. and i loved that we got to be there for it. much more to come on baby gussy..just you wait!

 **courtesy of emilydalby.