Tuesday Trail Day

This week we headed up the canyon for our family walk. When Johnny and I were dating we spent a lot of time going on hikes in Provo Canyon so we love spending time up there. In fact, Johnny proposed at Sundance.

We started at the first park, Canyon View Park and had a great hour long walk. We didn't leave until 7:00 p.m. so the weather was perfect and we were in the shade most of the time.

Lily liked to look back at me and smile. Maybe in hopes that I would get her out? Or maybe she wanted my Crystal Lite water.

Lily needs a chance to stretch her legs, too, of course. She couldn't walk without her favorite teddy bear.

The teddy bear didn't leave her arms the entire hike.

The beautiful scenery!

This week we headed up the canyon for our family walk. When Johnny and I were dating we spent a lot of time going on hikes in Provo Canyon so we love spending time up there. In fact, Johnny proposed at Sun

Pictures from Lily's Birthday Party

Lots of Lily's Parker and Trost cousins came to help celebrate her birthday.

Ethan cruising down the slide.
Nicholas with his alligator

Parker and Stewart kidlets relaxing at their parents feet.

Merrick is so photogenic!

Andrew having fun in the water

Lily's First Birthday at the Pool

Daddy's Girls
Parker is too fast for Uncle Matt

Can these girls get any cuter?

Matt looks a little tired from chasing the kids. In the background the Parker kidlets are playing in the fountain.

Marcus gets ready for another dive!

More Birthday Fun!

Cami at 22 weeks along preggo with Baby Croc and Lily telling her where they need to go.

Sahara and Parker with their siblings being brave and jumping in the background.

Look at Coston go!

Merrick loves the dragon!

Kennedy being brave. That water was so cold!

More Lily's Birthday

The dry crew holding down our nice tables in the shade.
Ally making cute faces

Look at those cute little rolls!

More pictures from Lily's Birthday

Lily and Kyrie are best friends.

Kyrie loved everything at the pool.

Uncle Conner seemed to enjoy the children's section as well.

Kyrie always wanted to get back in the pool

Lily wasn't quite sure what to think of the water. This pose was common throughout the day.

Lily's First Birthday Party

For Lily's First Birthday we celebrated with both of our family's at the pool! Lily loved spending the afternoon with her cousins in the water. Thank you to all the family who came and made it so much fun!

Lily's first birthday cupcake.The frosting was her favorite part!

After the pool Lily feel asleep and woke up just in time for us to sing Happy Birthday to her. She still looks a little dazed!

Lily is glaring at a little girl who is trying to run off with her float.

Lily and Kyrie had fun in the water with Unkie Conner

Lily also had tons of fun in the sun with the Parker cousins.

Mary Kay Monday

Okay, I admit it is not Monday yet, but I couldn't wait to let anyone who reads this blog know about a fun event I will be having next Saturday (June 28th).

Mary Kay has just launched their fabulous summer Mineral Line. The brand new, beautiful products have an oil-absorbing mineral-based formula that will give you intense, fade-resistant color. You will get to try out these fun, new colors for free along with the mineral highlighting and mineral bronzing powders.


I know y'all are busy so I am giving everyone who comes their choice of a free mineral eyeshadow. For every friend you bring, you will get an additional free eyeshadow. Can't beat free!

Here are the details:

When: June 28th at 10:30 a.m.
Where: Lehi, Utah 3262 North 1000 West

Please RSVP by June 27th at 5:00 p.m.

See you there!

For a sneak peak of the new products please go to my web-site:
www.marykay.com/taralyn

Thrifty Thursday

I am always looking for way to save money. I think it is genetic. My family does it, too. I love finding great deals on things I will actually use. Currently we are trying to cut back on our grocery budget.

My sister invited us all over Thursday night to make freezer meals together. We had tons of fun and stocked up our freezers for a great price! Unfortunately, Lily had other ideas of what she wanted to do so I wasn't much help.

Aileen and Ada in front of all of the groceries!

Cami preparing my meals for me.

Lily was really happy to be outside. And she was even more excited when Ada came out to play with her. Lily, Ada, and I did sign language in the backyard. Lily is getting pretty good! Her favorite signs are dog, baby, drink, and ball. There was a dog barking in the yard next to us and she kept doing the sign and looking for it. It is so fun to see her start communicating!

Tuesday Trails

As part of our recent fitness goals, we took our first nature walk tonight. We've decided to pick a new trail to walk every Tuesday. For today's walk we took the Provo River Trail by Johnny's work. Although it was reportedly 93 degrees out at 5:30 p.m., we kept cool by heading west under the shaded trees. Lily could not take her eyes off of the river. It was a nice hour walk and we look forward to checking out the rest of the trail throughout the summer.


Lily loves Jamba Juice. Once Johnny shared a sip with her, she didn't want to give it back!

If anyone has any Utah trail suggestions! Let us know!

Happy First Birthday Lily!

We can't believe our little girl is one! One year has never gone by so fast! Today we had a small celebration at home with just us and we will be having a swim party with family on Saturday.

Lily loved her gift! I hid it under a blanket the night before, but she found it anyway. I had to rehide it so that she could be surprised when Johnny woke up. She loves to smile at herself and give herself kisses. She will also bounce up and down with the music and touch the colors as they light up.
Lily also got to be a fairy princess for her birthday. I saw the tutu/fairy kit at Deseret Book for only $4 and couldn't pass it up. It took me ten minutes to make the tutu (put all the fabric on) and put the butterfly wings together. Her Children's Place princess 1st birthday shirt was only $2. Hooray for good deals that make fun birthdays!

Sorry ladies ... this daddy is taken!

Happy Father's Day to Johnny! It is pretty hard to top last year's Father's day gift - a cute one day old Lily. In this past year Johnny has proven to be the best daddy and best husband Lily and I could ask for. A few examples ....

Johnny went with me to every doctor's appointment when I was pregnant with Lily. Now that is dedication! From the quick five minute check ups to the longer and more exciting ultrasounds - he didn't miss a one.

After Lily was born, he pretty much single handedly ran our household for a month or two while working graveyard shifts on the weekends. Family and friends helped out, too, but Johnny was amazing! He took such tender care of Lily. He was a trooper and took turns with me getting up with her at night.

He loves to teach Lily new things. I love watching them together. You would think that he was the one who took all the classes in child development!

Johnny has always put the gospel and his family first. I never have to wonder where his priorities are because he shows me every day.

Relay for Life

My friend Hilary did an amazing job organizing Orem's Relay for Life with the American Cancer Society. Lily and I had a great time for the few hours we were there. I really wanted to stay for the luminaria lighting and Ashlee's slide show, but Lily had other ideas. Lily's favorite part, of course, was playing with the other kids.

Pretty in Pig Tails

If you go into the woods tonight .....

You are in for a big surprise! Lily and I went to the Orem Library's Teddy Bear Picnic. Lily has an intense love for her teddy bear so I knew it would be a fun afternoon for her. It was hard to know what Lily loved best - the other kids she played with or the singing. She was in the group who got to make bird noises. Perfect for her! She loves to chase birds in our yard and copy their noises.

It was fun for me to take Lily to the library as well. The library was my second home growing up. I think my mom took us at least once a week. I have always loved reading and I hope that Lily grows up the same way.

Wii Fit Check in

We've been asked how the Wii Fit is going so we thought we'd post our weekly results:
Johnny: -5 lbs
Tara: -2lbs

Nice week, right? We also used a lot of great Weight Watchers recipes.

Other highlights from the Wii are that I can now feel my abs. They have been missing for almost two years ... welcome back abs. Welcome back.

Memorial Day

I'm a little behind in putting up pictures. I couldn't find the uploading cord for about a week. Luckily Lily found it for me. She is good at doing that.

We had a good Memorial Day Weekend with family. On Monday we had a birthday dinner for my sister in law Aileen and my Dad. We also played Settlers of Cataan - a family favorite. Johnny and I are getting pretty good - it is just that my brother Aaron is way too good! So we are open to any Settlers challengers out there.
These two pictures are Lily with her cousin Ally. Ally is now about two and a half months. She is a cutie. This is about as close as we let Lily get. She loves babies and we are working on not touching their faces. Please disregard Lily's hair. It started out the day in pigtails and ended in horns :)

Our favorite babysitters! Conner and Ada.

Now that Lily is getting older she is getting better at playing with older kids. Plus cousin Kyrie is pretty patient. Lily seems to like her a lot!