Happy Friday!

Hi friends!

I hope that you all had a wonderful week! Things have been very busy on our end.

Tuesday was a crazy day.
After work I drove up to meet Nick at the Title Company to sign the closing paperwork on the house... After 1 million (or so it seemed) signatures we went to visit Reagan's new daycare. They were so kind and I hope Reagan meets some nice friends and is given lots of love! After thedaycare we drove to the new house to have the final walk through. It is so exciting, but we were definately exhausted!

Thursday was the first grade field trip.

Every year since Ive taught we've gone to the Wildlife World Zoo. Its soooo far away but seriously an amazing zoo. We had a blast and the kids made some wonderful memories. No major mishaps this year, but a few good stories to tell after the fact!

watching the kids feed the giraffes is always one of my faves

this monkey reminded me of Reagan... little mohawk

how tiny these baby mice are!

baby white tiger

Today Nick and his best friends went to Vegas for a bachelor party. Reagan and I will be having a busy weekend though- hopefully it will help get our minds off of him being away! (We haven't been apart in a long time - not to be too much like the crazy OC Housewives, but we havent been in seperate states in years!) Reagan and I are going to meet my parents at the new house this weekend to work and clean! One more week until move - in!

Also.... every year I order caterpillars for my kiddos . Its amazing to watch them grow and transform into butterflies. Weds one of our caterpillars made it's chrysalis! So awesome.. Hopefully the other caterpillars will do the same this weekend!!

Lately...

Hi everyone!

It's been a few days since my last post! Let me catch you up....

First of all , I am soooooooooooo excited. I entered the giveaway over at This kind of love's blog (if you havent checked her out you should. She is one of my favorite blog friends!) and I won! I am so excited to get The Blind Side!!

It was a fun week in first grade. Our Harcourt anthology story for the week was "Fishing Bears" so we were busy with a bear unit. We wrote bear reports and ended the week with a bear celebration. We had a teddy bear picnic, did bear math, and had enjoyed showing our bears what first grade is all about!

This weekend we have been busy boxing up the house for our move. I cant believe we only have 2 more weeks here! Ahhh so crazy! Reagan has been enjoying this crazy weekend.. he loves pushing all the boxes around, throwing all his little people into boxes, and (oh dear) climbing on top of the stacks of boxes. Last night we took a break and went to the mall for some fun. We went to Chick -fil-A for dinner. Reagan loves their chicken and fruit, not to mention watching all the big kids play in the play area. ( I love this place too, but I must say we couldnt stop laughing with how many times they say "It's my pleasure"... we counted and we heard it over 10 times. haha) After dinner we went to Gymboree and Children's Place to spend some gift cards on Reagan. We also happened to go into Pottery Barn and Pottery Barn Kids for me... How did that happen?!? I have Reagan's playroom on my brain- I cant stop thinking about what I should get and do to make it perfect for a little 1 year old mover!

Tuesday's Top 2 and Whats in my bag....

This week Taylor's Top Two is

Top 2 Magazines

I must say I used to be a huge magazine junkie... I had tons of subscriptions and always took my mom's when she was done..... but this past year I have been better with my spending/money and do not have any subscriptions other than my Parenting one that was a gift....

My favorite two magazines that I love to read...er... stare at the pictures are:

In Style... Such great beauty and fashion tips and pics..

And US weekly... I cant even imagine how much money Ive dropped on this magazine over the years... Its soooooooooooooo addicting and full of the best photos and gossip!

****************************************************************

Julie at Brown Eyed Belle tagged me to see

My mother instilled a love of handbags in my sister and I at a very young age. I can remember starting my Kate Spade collection in middle school when I sported the mini backpack to school everyday.. By the time I graduated high school I had about 10 Kate Spades. Then in college my taste changed and I fell in love with Prada and my little Louie. Since college I have become a huge Coach fan.

If I'm not carrying my newest Coach bag (see the birthday blog) , I'm carrying Reagan's diaper bag. My wonderful sister Meg got this for me for my 27th birthday. I love love love it. It is a Kate Spade (going back to my old handbag days!) It is nylon which is easy to clean, has girly details like the bows on each side and the polka dot lining, but is still okay to carry around with a baby boy. For this particular post we will explore the diaper bag... and I must tell you I didn't expose all of it- there were 4 board books, a bib, a spoon, and a baggie of Gerber puffs... haha. But here are the real necessities I can't live without in my bags!

1. Juicy sunglasses /case

2. Kiehls lip gloss

3. My planner/wallet/life (I seriously live and die by this book)

4. Two Red Hens diaper bag- I knew Reagan was a boy but needed more pink in my dark bag!

5. Coupon envelope

6. Reagan's restraun table mat thingy

7. my pink Ipod nano

8. Changing table cover (matching Kate Spade polka dots)

9. Yellow Kate Spade wristlist that I throw odds and ends in (It was a bridesmaid gift and has perfect matching polka dot lining)

10. My cell phone

11. Car keys and Work keys

12. Not pictured- my camera... always with me!

This was fun... thanks for tagging me Julie! :)

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone!

What a beautiful day it was to be with family celebrating Jesus and His sacrifice for us!

This morning we woke up and Reagan found his Easter basket from the Easter Bunny. He wasn't too thrilled with it.. Seriously all he cared about was the empty plastic egg that was painted like a football... Figures!

(PS ... please excuse the moving boxes in the background...)

Then we loaded up and drove north for church. It was a great feeling to be back at the church where I grew up and see the minister who married Nick and I. We were proud to show off Reagan again (they all hadn't seen him since Christmas) and announce that we would soon be back to Chaparral as our home church since we are moving to Scottsdale soon. It was a beautiful service and Reagan did great in their nursery.

After church we drove to my parent's house for the afternoon. We took family pictures and then changed into comfy clothes. Everyone watched basketball, golf, read, and relaxed until lunch was ready. Mom prepared a delicious meal and set another beautiful table!

Us with my little sister Meg and her hubby Shaun

Us with my wonderful parents

My mom always sets the most perfect tables!

Here are a couple of pictures from last year's Easter. Reagan was 1 week old!

Here is today!

Something exciting did happen while we were relaxing.... we felt an earthquake...sort of. We were in the backyard, enjoying the sun when my dad and sister noticed the pool's water splashing wildly. We thought it was weird since there really wasn't a big breeze. Nick then received a text from the news saying that reports of a Baja Mexican earthquake was felt in our county.... Crazy! Those tremors must have made the pool water splash. I wish I would have felt it though.... An earthquake in AZ- that's a first for me!!

Reagan's First Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my beautiful baby boy!

Today is Reagan's first birthday and we had an amazing time at his birthday party.

I had a farm themed party and requested that everyone sported their best farmer attire.

I am really pleased with how everything turned out. It was an absolutely beautiful Arizona day. We were surrounded by amazing family and friends. I hope everyone had as much fun as Reagand and I did. Here are some of my favorite pitcutres.... and then a slide show of all of them!

The head table with food and pictures

Some of the food

More food

Cupcakes

Pig cake

Cow cake

Goodie bags and bandannas for guests

Happy Birthday my love!

Heaven!

Reagan's birth story

Wow.. a year ago today Reagan's birth story began!

Okay, if you remember my post from yesterday, I left you with dinner at Pei Wei where I ate spicy, orange chicken... I do think that this helped push things along.. maybe, maybe not. We came home and when it was time for bed I felt really weird. I felt like I had an upset tummy and couldn't get comfortable. So I came to lay out on the couch. Nick ended up joining me on the couch. We look redic, but it was sweet. Around midnight I started feeling really weird. Too much info here- but I felt like I had to go to the bathroom and nothing was happening. I finally fell asleep early in the morning .... I woke up with contractions at 5:30 am. Nick and I put on our shoes and walked around the neighborhood .... we were thinking that if it was real labor it would continue and if it was false labor it would stop with the walking. The contractions didn't stop.... so I hopped in the shower (shave and smell pretty and all) while Nick called the doctor. She said to drive on over to the hospital and get checked out.

We got things ready to leave, arranged for my friend Amy to come and watch the dogs, and hopped on the freeway. Our doctor and the hospital she delivered at was in a different city than we lived in. It was rush hour so we were sat in traffic and headed north. We arrived at the hospital and sat in triage. We had the bitchiest nurse from hell. I seriously cant explain how rude she was. I was clearly tense and nervous and she was yelling at me to relax. Anyways, she ultimately sent us home because I wasn't ready to be admitted yet... ahhh.. (It was 10:30 now) Luckily my parent's house was near that hospital so we went back there. I took a bath which also helped to speed things along and laid down while Nick and my mom helped me through the contractions. It was so painful. At 1:00 my mom said it was time to go back to the hospital. I was admitted and told to walk around the hospital .... I still remember how awkward it felt walking around in that little hospital gown... I felt like I was totally exposed! Walking was helpful but every few corners I would have a big contractions and basically be crying in the hallway! I finally decided I couldn't try and be strong anymore and I needed the epidural. That is when heaven set in!

I was terrified of the epidural but it honestly wasn't as bad as I thought! Once I had it, life was good. I napped for awhile. When I woke up it was time to start pushing. They called for the doctor who was out at dinner. She raced in and threw on her scrubs. Once she was in and ready it was time to start pushing. I pushed for an hour an a half and probably made it harder than it needed to be.

At 10:10pm Reagan was born! He weighed 8lbs 1 oz and was healthy and happy!

It was love at first sight.

Here are some pictures from that day:

I love this picture. This was in the afternoon before the epidural. Clearly I was unhappy!

This was after the epidural .... heaven

First family photo! Reagan was just born! Literally like 5 minutes old.

Reagan's Due Date

I can't believe that 1 year ago today was Reagan's due date!

I had been on maternity leave for 1 week already and was really ready for my baby to come out! I spent most of the 9 months hoping that Reagan would not be an April fools baby... I could just imagine the jokes and such for the rest of his life! But when the due date actually came around I was praying that he would arrive. I only gained just over 20 lbs with Reagan but felt HUGE. My body ached, I couldnt sleep, and I was ready for my peanut to be in my arms!

My mom and I spent the morning shopping in old town. After that we had lunch at Olive Garden. While I was tempted to try their Eggplant Parmesan (I heard it induced labor), I decided it sounded disgusting! That evening I joined my girls for our monthly girls night. We usually go to each other's house in our comfies, eat, gossip, and laugh laugh laugh! That night was no exception. It was so good to get my mind off of things.

Here is a picture from that night"

(Dont mind the fat girl in the middle!! haha... )

Jenny, Lisa, Kelli, and Kate- old and new members of our first grade team

The next day (April 2nd) I spent hanging out at home. When Nick got home that night we went to dinner at Pei Wei where I ate spicy, orange chicken. Then we went to a tux shop to pick up a suit Nick would be wearing in a wedding that weekend .... yes... Nick was scheduled to be a groomsman in one of his best friend's weddings that weekend. (The Dr had scheduled to induce labor with Reagan on Monday the 6th if he didn't come sooner...She said it would be no big deal to drive to Sedona to stand in the wedding and make it in time for the birth... can you imagine?)

Tomorrow I will write about Reagan's delivery!